She's a rainbow
by runaway-run
Summary: House has a niece who is in college...and eventually starts falling for one of her uncle's coworkers.
1. House's niece

I've been wanting to write this story for a while and I finally got down to it… so I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!

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**1 – House's niece**

It was a wonderful, sunny day of April when I received a weird phone call. Weird for two reasons: one, _he_ never called me, I was always the one who did, and two, he made a long speech which left me as clueless to what he was talking about as if he had left no message at all.

But he did say "Come to my office" and I did, with the feeling that the wonderful sunny day would soon turn into a cloudy, stormy one.

Of course, when I entered uncle Greg's office in Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, he wasn't there. The office was empty… I had arrived there one hour and a half after his phone call and if he had called it had to be something important, he only phoned once in a blue moon… so he was probably busy with some patient at the moment. I'd just have to wait.

Guessing something like this was bound to happen, I had brought with me a book I needed to read for college. I looked outside the office: no one was around. I sat on uncle Greg's comfortable chair (I had done it before, he had always told me I was welcome in his office as long as I didn't touch anything) and started reading.

I was halfway through the novel when someone entered the office. I didn't notice it until the person cleared his throat: "Excuse me… are you House's niece?"

I looked up. The guy standing in front of the desk had to be in his mid-twenties, he had blond hair and greenish-blue eyes, and he looked very young to be a doctor. He was rather good-looking. "Yes, I am…" I stared at him for a moment, before getting to my feet and introducing myself: "I'm Liv, nice to meet you…"

"I'm Robert Chase." He replied, shaking my hand. "I've actually been sent to tell you… House will be here soon, he's dealing with clinic duty right now."

Robert had to be British or something… his accent sounded foreign to me. "Clinic duty? I thought he never did that."

"Yeah, well, Dr. Cuddy told him she'd inform every pharmacy in Princeton that they weren't allowed to sell anymore Vicodin to him, unless he went straight to the clinic. He's been there for almost two hours, he should be here soon."

"I see…" I hadn't been to my uncle's office for months and last time I'd been there, I hadn't seen this guy. "So you're… working with my uncle?"

"Yes, I've been working here for a couple of months." He said. I really liked his eyes. He made me feel really self-conscious…

"How do you like it here?" I asked. I didn't like the silence. "I know my uncle can be… hum… difficult, sometimes…"

He smiled. "That's an euphemism."

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" I agreed.

"I like it here, it's very different from where I live… where I lived." He obviously didn't want to go into details, because he changed topic: "Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes, please. I'm addicted to coffee." I smiled and looked at him, as he made some coffee for us both and handed me a cup. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." I immediately started drinking, I needed some caffeine more than ever, but he just stood there, looking at me.

I was going to ask him if something was wrong, when I heard my uncle's sarcastic comment: "You're both pretty but that's not a reason to silently marvel at one another's beauty."

"Uncle Greg!" I placed my cup on his desk and went to hug him. Tight, because I knew he only accepted it from me. "You look good, how do you feel?"

"I've been better. How long have you been here?" he asked me as he sat down.

"A while…"

He glared at Dr. Chase. "What are you doing here? Go away, Englishman. And don't hit on the nurses."

He left at once, after saying goodbye to me. Uncle Greg told me to sit. "So, what's going on?" I asked cautiously. I was feeling nervous and I started playing with my long blond hair.

"Stop doing that, you'll lose hair more rapidly if you don't quit the habit." He said, then he paused and looked at me gravely: "I won't lie to you. It wouldn't make any sense, you're 21, you're mature, you're studying in one of the best colleges that there are out there, Princeton…I think you'll understand why I want to be honest. Altering the truth only makes it harder in the end." He paused once again. "I saw your mother and I told her I'd talk with you… she came for a check up and she's got a benign tumor."

"What…but if it's benign… it's fine, right? I mean, she can be cured without any kind of problem, can't she?"

"Yes she can, but the thing is, the exams showed the adenoma was found just in time. Another month or so, and it would have grown too much… we've been lucky. I told your mother I'd speak to you first so that I could answer whatever you want to know about it… I'm just that great." He said.

"It's not funny." I whispered. "I want to see James."

I had known James Wilson since I was a little girl, because he and uncle Greg were good friends… come to think of it, he was probably uncle Greg's only friend… and I'd always had a crush on him. He was the most charming man I knew. "Liv, your mother-"

"I'm going to see James." I interrupted him. I got up and quickly left the room. My uncle didn't try to stop me.

I often got lost when I came to the hospital, but of all places I never forgot where James's office was. I quickly got there and knocked on the door.

"Liv!" James didn't look all that surprised to see me. I guess uncle Greg told him about his sister, my mother. "How are you? I'm sorry, that's such a stupid question…" he said, before gently hugging me. I held him tight as long as I could without seeming inappropriate, taking in his scent, and when I let go, I was feeling on the verge of tears. But I wouldn't cry. "James… I want you to tell me the truth about my mom. You visited her, or at least checked her exams, didn't you?"

"I did…" he nodded. "What did Greg tell you?" he placed a hand on my shoulder and guided me toward one of the seats in front of his desk. I reluctantly sat down. "Well, he didn't have the chance to say much because I left his office as soon as he'd informed me that mom's got a tumor." I felt my cheeks redden. "I left saying I'd come talk to you."

James smiled sympathetically at me. "Your mother's condition is not serious. True, she needs to be operated and to come to check ups regularly after that, but she's in good hands in this hospital."

"But… is there any chance that things might be more serious than you think and she could grow worse or maybe just… is there any chance that she might…" I couldn't say the word. But he understood what I meant: "She's not going to die. She's just going to face a rough few months. She needs to be operated because with time this kind of adenomas, which are growths of glandular origin, can transform to malignancy… but this is not the case. We've already scheduled the intervention, it's for next week."

I was looking down. I didn't dare look up and I didn't even know why. "You're not lying to me, are you? I'm grown up, I don't need protection. Not anymore." I searched for his hand and he gently squeezed it: "I'm not lying, nor is your uncle."

"Thank you, James…" I wanted to tell him I was happy he was there, holding my hand, ready to help me and my mom. But I just couldn't utter the words.

Suddenly the wonderful sunny day of April looked like a thunderstorm to me.


	2. The Dinner

Here comes chapter two! I hope you guys enjoy reading it and let me know what you think! When I was writing part of this, I couldn't help but think of a specific episode of season one of House MD… I think you'll understand what I'm talking about by the time you've finished reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own _House MD_. I also mean it for chapter one, because I'm dumb and forgot to say it.

**2 – The dinner**

"Man, I'm freezing! Is it really mid-April?" I complained as I entered my dorm room.

Kate, my roommate and one of my best friends, was sitting on her bed, legs crossed, reading a book. "Tell me about it. I don't know what's wrong with the weather this year."

I threw my bag on the floor and sat on my bed. "I'd better start studying at once because I'm going out for dinner with my uncle and my mom later." I told her. It was four in the afternoon. "Are you going out with Walt tonight?"

"I don't think so, he's really worried for our upcoming exams and he's studying like a madman… he says he doesn't know anything." She rolled her eyes. "So false."

I laughed. Her boyfriend, Walt, was very smart but he studied more than anyone else we knew, literally spending hours and hours in the library. He was kind of insecure. "I can't believe our 3rd year is almost over… and then in September we'll be back for our final year… it's scary." I muttered.

"It is…" She ran a hand through her thick, slightly wavy black hair and sighed. "I think I'll lose my mind before the finals are over. So much to do, so little time."

"I know…" Finals were going to be hard, everyone knew it. And with my mind set on my mom's health, I wasn't really capable of focusing like I should. "Hey, when I get back after the dinner, I'll bring ice cream." I told Kate. She smiled. "Awesome."

A couple of hours later I showered and got ready to go out. I was almost done blow drying my hair when they knocked on the door.

I went to open it, expecting to find my mother, but my uncle was standing there. "Hi, uncle… I thought-" I stopped in mid-sentence because behind him was James Wilson. "Hi, James…"

"We came to pick you up because your mother's going to be a little late, work troubles. She said she'll reach us at the restaurant." He paused. "Hello, Kate." He had met Kate before. She got up from her seat: "Hello, Mr. House…"

"Studying for your exams?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, yes."

I glanced at James, who was waiting quietly in the corridor, and turned to Kate: "I'll be back in a couple of hours or so. Strawberry and vanilla?" She nodded. "Alright." I took my jacket and closed the door behind me.

"How did you remember where my dorm room was?" I asked uncle Greg, as we walked down the corridor.

"Your mom gave me directions." He simply said.

"Are you having dinner with us, James?" _Damn, I should have dressed more nicely. Wait… I shouldn't be thinking like this._

"No, Greg just needed a ride and I gave him one."

"Oh…" I felt my heart sank.

"This place is always the same." James casually said as he looked around.

"What… did you attend Princeton?"

"Of course he did, I thought you knew everything there is to know about Jimmy." Uncle Greg joked. I glared at him.

James ignored him and replied: "Yes, I studied here. I loved this college."

"Where is your dorm? I mean… the dorm you used to stay in?"

"It was in Blair Hall… one of the oldest buildings, and it showed. But I enjoyed it."

Blair Hall was definitely one of the most beautiful areas on campus. Knowing that James had studied in the same college as me, even if the whole place was huge, made me feel happy.

"Do you follow any extra curricular activies?" James asked me.

"I write in the school paper…"

"Don't be modest, Liv!" uncle Greg piped up. "She's one of the editors as well. It must be boring to check that words aren't mispelled and all that junk."

"I like it." I stressed each word. "It's all practice anyway. You perfectly know I'd like to become a good journalist when I'm out of college."

"You're ambitious, it's a great thing." James said, as we reached his car and he opened the door for me.

I smiled. "Thanks!" I meant it both for the compliment and for opening the door. I liked the fact that he acted like a gentleman. Guys my age didn't have the faintest idea what to do when it came down to girls.

Unluckily, we reached the restaurant in no time. I was disappointed because I hadn't had the chance to speak much to James, except for commenting about how much I liked his car and other small talk.

"Thanks for the ride, Wilson. See you tomorrow at work." Uncle Greg sounded so nice, it wasn't like him. I said thanks as well before entering the restaurant.

"So, how come you've hired people to work for you, uncle Greg?" I asked once we were sitting at a table for three, waiting for my mom to arrive. I still hadn't asked him about it.

"Basically, I can make them do all the boring things in my place." He explained. "Chase is not all that great. Foreman, on the other hand, is not bad, but he complains way too much, I'm thinking of hiring a woman. She'd be easier to manage."

He spoke like he was referring to some meaningless item, so I chose to not reply. "When I saw Dr. Chase the other day, he looked damn young… to be a doctor, I mean…"

"He's just finished medical school. Why this sudden interest in Chase?"

"I'm just curious." I tried to ask the following question in the most casual way possible: "Is Wilson still married?"

Uncle Greg's gaze was piercing. I almost winced while he scrutinized me. It was weird, seeing as I had pretty much the same big, blue eyes. "I'm sure it has to do with the lack of a father figure. Growing up with your mother, meeting your father for the first time only when you were in high school, affected you deeply, whether you feel it or not. Now you find older men attractive because they make you feel safe, because they're supposed to give you stability. In fact, you like Wilson so much because, in your eyes, he represents everything that your father should have been, caring, kind, smart."

I was speechless. "I…what are you talking about?"

"I know it was difficult. It was even harder for your mother, from the moment your father said he didn't want to marry her and didn't want a child. But she did a great job raising you, you grew up to be an intelligent, well-balanced person, you shouldn't throw it all away now for a man. You'd only risk your future."

I stayed silent. I could feel my cheeks burn…

"Hi, sweetie, sorry I'm late!" My mom reached the table and kissed me on the cheek. "I kept getting phone calls at work from clients… Greg, how are you?"

Mom and uncle Greg started talking. Thankfully, she started telling him about her day, so I could pretend to listen while I really thought about my uncle's observations. He wasn't right. Yes, my biological father had never been there, but still… I couldn't like older men just because I was looking for a surrogate dad. That didn't make any sense. _I hate it when uncle plays psychologist with me._


	3. Coffee and an interview

I'm really enjoying writing this story and even if today it seems like everything is going wrong for me, I'm happy because I'm updating.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate your comments!

Disclaimer: I don't own House MD. I don't even own the song mentioned in the chapter, that belongs to the Rolling Stones.

**Coffee and an interview**

_She comes in colors everywhere _

_She combs her hair… She's like a rainbow _

_Coming, colors in the air _

_Oh, everywhere… She comes in colors _

_Have you seen her dressed in blue? _

_See the sky in front of you and her face is like a sail _

_Speck of white so fair and pale _

_Have you seen a lady fairer?_

"She's like a rainbow…" I softly sang along to one of my favorite songs by The Rolling Stones_, She's like a rainbow._

I was sitting in uncle Greg's office. My mother was being operated at the moment and since I couldn't do anything but wait, my uncle had lent me his iPod full of old rock'n'roll songs. Not that I didn't enjoy the music: I had grown up stealing his CDs and my favorite bands were pretty much _his_ favorite bands. We both loved Mick Jagger's voice, which was scary and reassuring at the same time.

On the other hand, I'd always thought Mick Jagger was gorgeous when he was young, and my uncle… well, he obviously didn't care.

I was stupidly wondering if my uncle would ever go to one of The Stones' concerts with me when I felt someone touch my shoulder and I looked up. It was Dr. Chase.

"Liv, your mother's out of the operating room. She'll be asleep for a while, but everything went okay."

"Thanks… where's my uncle?" I got up and took off the earphones.

"He's talking with Dr. Wilson. If you want, I can show you where your mother's room is."

I nodded and followed him. I was feeling relieved: even if the operation wasn't serious, it was good to know everything was fine and it was over.

"How long do you reckon it'll take for my mom to wake up?" I asked him.

"I'm not sure, but it should be no more than an hour." He smiled reassuringly.

I smiled too, he made me feel at ease. "My uncle told me you're from the UK. Which part of it?"

He sighed. "I'm Australian, actually. I don't know why House finds it funny to call me British."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know… I think it's the accent, it sounds somewhat similar to the English." I paused. "I like it." I exclaimed without thinking. _Well done, Liv! He'll think you're flirting with him!_

Dr. Chase simply smiled. "Thank you."

_Well, I really do like his accent… _

We reached my mother's room. Uncle Greg and James were outside, chatting. I guessed my uncle had probably made a nasty remark because James looked mad. "Hey, what's going on?" I asked them.

"Wilson doesn't appreciate my humour. His loss." Uncle Greg said.

"Yeah, I think I'll go back to my office, I have work to do." James said. "Liv, I'll see you and your mother before you leave. Like I told her, she'll have to come every fortnight for a couple of months so we can check that the adenoma hasn't reformed, but it's more of a precaution than a real worry." He told me before glaring at my uncle and leaving.

I was starting to feel uncomfortable around James, after what uncle Greg had said the previous week when we had had dinner together. I didn't know why… I didn't think he was right, but at the same time, I was feeling guilty. _It's so ridiculous!_

"Chase!" Uncle Greg shouted. "Since you're busy doing nothing, go get some Vicodin for me, I have no more pills."

"I can't get it without a prescription!" Dr. Chase protested.

"You are a doctor!" He stressed each single word, like he was talking to the dumbest kid he had ever met. He also ordered him to bring some coffee for me.

"Why do you boss him around like that?" I asked him indignantly once Dr. Chase was gone.

"Because I can."

I didn't know what to reply so I just sighed, as he smiled triumphantly. Sometimes he seemed a ten year old kid.

Uncle Greg went back to his office as soon as he'd gotten his Vicodin and told me to stop by before mom and I had left.

I thanked Dr. Chase for the coffee. "You didn't need to do that, Dr. Chase…"

"Please, just call me Robert. And you're welcome."

"Well, thank you, Robert." For some reason I was feeling shy around him. Maybe because he was so good looking and because he looked at me like he was trying to read my mind.

"I heard House mention you go to Princeton. It must be tough."

"Sometimes… especially now with all the final exams, but I love it. It's a challenge."

We kept chatting until Robert's pager went off and he had to leave. I went to sit at my mother's bedside until she finally woke up.

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"When did the Glorious Revolution take place?"

"1688. King James II was deposed and William of Orange and his wife were crowned in 1689."

"Who were the main thinkers of these years?"

"John Milton, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke." I sighed. "Okay, I think that's enough. Thanks for help me revising, Kate… I have to go to the hospital now."

"To get information for your article for the Princetonian?"

I nodded as I looked around for my sunglasses. "Yeah, I have to speak with the administrator… then I'll stop at my uncle's office to say hello, I hope he's not busy." I paused. "Hey, I'll help you revise tonight, okay?"

"Yeah. I think I'll go to the gym… I'm going to lose my mind if I don't have a break."

"Of course, it'll relieve some stress." I agreed.

Half an hour later, I was talking with Dr. Lisa Cuddy. I'd known her for years, since my uncle had started working in the hospital, and I'd always had a high regard for her. Because she was a woman running a hospital, and by the looks of it she was doing great, especially compared to the previous administrator.

"Do you think the funds of the hospital are equally divided between each division of the hospital? I know up until ten years ago some departments lacked adequate structures…"

"We do our best with the equipment the hospital can afford. The donations…"

Dr. Cuddy was interrupted by a familiar voice: "You aren't done yet?"

I turned and looked at him. "Hey, uncle Greg."

"What did you do, House? Did you terrorize another patient or are you just bored and enjoy the disruption?" Dr. Cuddy asked.

"Actually… option number three. I came to give this back to you." He dropped some paper on the desk. "It's the third person I've decided to hire, so you can do all the boring, tedious, legal stuff and get her for me."

"Her?" I repeated.

"Why yes, I hired a woman. I need some kind of feminine touch, I can't be around Chase and Foreman all day." He smiled at Dr. Cuddy, who frowned. "I hope this… Allison Cameron is a good immunologist." She stated. The way she looked at my uncle clearly meant she was thinking _This new immunologist better be worth it._

"Oh, trust me, she is."

He pestered her, and me, for the rest of the interview, when I finally thanked Dr. Cuddy and followed uncle Greg out of her office.

"Where are you going?" he asked me, since I ignored the nearest exit and walked at his side.

"With you. You've given me a headache and I need some coffee." I explained.

"Chase will be happy to make you some. Like the other day. It's really funny, bossing him around."

I ignored the remark. When we got to uncle Greg's office, Dr. Chase… Robert, was doing crosswords, and my uncle's other employee, Dr. Foreman, was reading a medical magazine.

"Hello, Dr. Chase, Dr. Foreman." I smiled at them. Needless to say, my uncle ordered them to make coffee and then sat at his desk and started playing with his Game Boy.

I struck up a conversation with Robert. He really was a nice guy. I wished uncle Greg weren't so hard on him.


	4. Bon Jovi and booze

Thanks to everyone who sticks around and keeps reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own House MD.

**4 – Bon Jovi and booze**

"Uncle Greg! You'll never believe who I saw while I was coming here!"

"I probably don't even care." He replied un-enthusiastically, barely looking up from his Game Boy.

I ignored his reply as I sat in front of him. "Jon Bon Jovi!" No sound from him. "Well, I'm not 100 sure it was really him, because he was walking on the other side of the street and I couldn't cross because I had a red light and there were too many cars, but he does live in New Jersey and not even that far away from here… I think he's from Rumson, or Middletown…" I stopped talking. "Can't you fake some interest?"

"I like being brutally honest."

"Okay…" I looked around. The office was empty and I was wondering where uncle's employees were. "Are you even wondering why I'm here?"

"I can guess. You'd like to see Wilson, maybe?"

I blushed and hoped he didn't notice. "No." I firmly said. "I brought you the new issue of the Daily Princetonian, since, you know, I wrote an article about the hospital. Thought you might want to show it to Dr. Cuddy as well."

Uncle Greg put down his Game Boy and grabbed the paper. "I guess I have no choice but read it since you're here." He muttered and started reading.

I got up and paced around the room. I was somewhat nervous when my uncle read whatever I wrote, because I really cared about his opinion. He was right most of the time and his advice were always useful.

He was still reading when a girl entered the office. She had to be in her mid-twenties and she was really pretty.

I guessed she was the new doctor, the immunologist. I smiled and offered her my hand: "Hi, I'm Dr. House's niece, Liv."

She smiled and shook my hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Allison Cameron."

"I hope you enjoy working here…I know uncle Greg can be a real pain." I told her.

"I'm not deaf yet." Uncle remarked.

"Yeah, keep reading."

"I'm done, actually." He put down the paper. "You could have asked more annoying questions to Cuddy, I would have liked to see her get all defensive."

"Uncle…"

"It's a good article, but not as good as the one you once wrote about Francis Scott Fitzgerald. And you should have interviewed me, not Cuddy."

"I'll do that next time… I never wrote about Fitzgerald, maybe you mean JD Salinger…"

"Yeah, same thing."

I personally thought JD Salinger was better than FS Fitzgerald but decided to drop the subject. "Okay. Thanks for the constructive criticism." I ironically remarked, since he hadn't told me what he liked or disliked about the article.

"Anytime. Cameron, you're here early." Uncle said, like he had just noticed her presence.

"It's 9…" she pointed out.

"You're right, it's me the one who is here early. Chase and Foreman, on the other hand, are late. I could blackmail them… make them play a joke on Wilson…" he stressed Wilson's name, staring at me.

I looked away. "I'd better go." I grabbed my things and got up. "It was nice to meet you, Dr. Cameron. Bye, uncle Greg."

I left feeling a bit annoyed. What was my uncle trying to do, bringing up James all the time?

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The following week exams finally ended and my friends and I couldn't be happier, especially because we were feeling completely drained.

"I call a drinking night!" Michelle, a friend of Kate and I, suggested that afternoon. "Let's go to Murphy's pub later and let's get totally wasted!"

"Yeah, we'll come, won't we Kate? Unless… you're going out with Walt?" I asked.

"Nope, I wanna celebrate with you girls!" she smiled.

I wasn't a drinker. Not because I wanted to be a bore, I just didn't like the taste of most alcoholic stuff out there. But that night the excitement was such that even Kate and I took shots and drank. Not to the point of getting drunk… but more than I'd ever done before.

I went to say hello to some people and while I was getting back to the table where Kate and the others were, I bumped into someone. "Dr. Chase! I mean Robert…hi..."

"Hey…" he smiled. He was wearing a dark blue shirt which looked incredibly good on him. "How've you been? I haven't seen you in a while."

"I've been good…" My brain had frozen, I didn't know what to say. "Hum…you been here long?"

"No, I just got here. Can I offer you something?"

"Hum…I…" _I shouldn't really drink anymore. I've had enough, I can't hold liquor. _"Why not!" _What the hell? My brain is not processing what I really want to say!_

We sat and ordered drinks and I thought of something clever to say. "I'm kind of celebrating tonight, pretty much everyone here is, because exams are finally over and it's awesome, and…" I was rambling. Robert was looking at me smiling and he was just so cute. "How's it going with my uncle? Is he treating you guys badly?"

"No, he's… himself, I guess. He's the most peculiar person I've ever met." He paused. "I noticed the excitement around campus. I almost feel like I'm back in college, it was the same way."

"Where did you study?"

"In Melbourne. I came here when House…your uncle hired me." He drank some of his beer.

"That must've been hard, leaving your country to start a job abroad…"

"Not really, there wasn't much for me in Australia." He spoke, almost angrily.

I wondered what he was referring to, but I thought it safer not to ask. "I wanna travel a lot. When I'm done with college and studying… I wanna visit Canada, Europe and New Zealand…and yes, Australia too…"

"On your own or with someone?" he asked, like he was hinting to some boyfriend of mine.

"On my own, I mean, with friends maybe… when I was younger I'd always thought I'd go with my uncle, I used to worship him, and he would have liked to see Europe I guess, but then the thing with his leg happened…" I trailed off. I was speaking almost incoherently. "Thanks for the drink." I had almost finished it.

"My pleasure."

I liked the way he looked at me, but I also felt a bit embarrassed. I shouldn't have worn that top, it showed a little too much for my taste. "Let's play a game. Tell me your favorite book… I'll tell you about yourself."

"What?" he laughed.

"Yeah, I do it all the time with people… they tell me their favorite novel and I tell them what they're like. According to my interpretation."

"Okay then…_The grapes of wrath_. Have you read it?"

I nodded. "I read it when I was in high school. I like John Steinbeck's works. Okay, let me guess… you're an only child…"

"Yeah, how do you know?"

"Because from my experience, only children like reading books where the main character has a big family or there's lots of family interaction. At least that works for me… and also, I think you're a thoughtful person but you don't want others to get too close… and see this side of yourself." I was sounding too serious but I couldn't help it. Alcohol really affected me in strange ways.

"Wow, you could be a psychologist. What are you majoring in?" Robert looked surprised, so maybe I was right… at least partially.

"Journalism, but I considered studying psychology when I started college. I prefer writing though."

"Speaking of writing, I read your article on the Daily Princetonian. I liked it, you write differently than the other people on that paper."

"Differently-bad or good?"

"Good, you speak your mind but you're not aggressive when doing so."

We chatted for hours and I ended up drinking some more. When I finally looked around, Kate, Michelle and my other friends weren't in the pub anymore. It was late, they'd probably gone back to the dorms. I frowned: "Great, thank you very much…"

"Something's wrong?" Robert asked me. He had drunk some, but he was still completely sober, like he had just been gulping down water.

"No, my friends left, but it's okay. They probably went to sleep or to party in someone's room."

"I can walk you to your dorm if you want." He offered.

I was going to say no but I didn't want to say goodbye to him already, so I accepted and we left the pub. The cool air made me feel a bit more awake… but I wasn't paying much attention and I almost tripped on some stairs. _Great… make a fool out of yourself, Liv._

"What are you doing this summer now that you've finished your exams?" he asked me.

"I'm actually taking a summer course in June, so I'll be back in less than a month. I don't live far from Princeton anyway… less than a hour…and you? Are you going somewhere?"

"No, not really. I just got my job here, I'll probably be working all summer."

When we reached my dorm, I started panicking. _How should I say goodbye to him?_ I couldn't think clearly…

"This place is really beautiful, you're lucky to study here."

"Yeah, it's a blessing…"

"I guess I'll see you around…" he smiled.

"You definitely will. I mean…" Man, I was really out of it. "Thanks for walking me here…goodnight, Robert." Impulsively, I kissed his cheek. He looked surprised but also pleased, as I smiled before entering my dorm.

Kate scared me when, after I'd closed the door behind me, she jumped out of her bed and grabbed my shoulders: "Liv! How did it go with the guy?"

"Kate! Do you want to give me a heart attack?" I sighed. "Why did you leave me without saying-"

"Are you kidding? You two looked so cute, I didn't want to disrupt anything!"

"Point is, there wasn't anything to disrupt!" I entered the bathroom and washed my face with some cold water. "I feel a little light-headed..."

"Did you kiss him?" she excitedly asked.

"No I didn't! Well, on the cheek, so it's not a real kiss, but… he works with my uncle! He's…off limits! And… just because Robert's good-looking and has beautiful eyes and a great smile and full lips, it doesn't mean I'd like to kiss him!"

Kate looked at me warily. "May I point out you just contradicted yourself?"

"Whatever, I'm going to sleep!" I took off my shoes. "Why aren't you drunk?" I asked angrily.

"You're mad I'm not drunk?"

"I'm not mad! You know what, we'd better not talk until tomorrow."

Ten minutes later I was tossing and turning in my bed. I was trying to remember everything I'd said and done when I was with Robert to see if I had made a fool out of myself.


	5. Maybe

**5 - Maybe**

"You think it would be very wrong if I just happened to go out with him once?"

"I don't know, Liv… I don't know this guy as well as you do, maybe he's worth it…"

"Maybe you missed a part of our conversation… because I told you that I don't know him all that well!"

I was obviously speaking about Dr. Chase. It was the week after the finals, I had moved back home and was currently talking with my friend Elizabeth: I had told her about the night at the pub when I'd met Robert and that I liked him a little but I was worrying about the situtation because he worked with my uncle.

She shrugged. "You still know him, kinda. I'm not sure what to tell you. I think if you like him you should go out with him and see if things work, but on the other hand, your uncle is weird enough without adding this to the mix. No offense."

"None taken." I sighed and collapsed on my bed. Elizabeth was the only one who knew my uncle Greg quite well, we had been friends since kindergarten. "I'm probably overreacting anyway. How do I know that he evens wants to go out together? I'm sure he doesn't even like me that much and he won't ask me for a date and I won't have to worry about my uncle finding out."

She rolled her eyes. "Now you're being excessively dramatic."

"Maybe. Let's just drop the subject. How's Sean?" Sean was her boyfriend of almost two years. She was definitely luckier than me in the love department: I had only had one serious relationship which lasted one year… and didn't end too well. _I wonder how Christopher's doing._

"He's fine, he's just getting… a little boring. I was thinking maybe it's my fault, because… you know… we still haven't…"

"Oh." I nodded. Elizabeth's upbringing had been very strict due to her very religious mother and she didn't feel too comfortable with the idea of sex, that was why she and her boyfriend still hadn't slept together. "Does he complain about it?"

"Not really, but he's kind of irritable about the subject." She started playing with her shoulder-length brown hair and suddenly asked: "What was it like for you and Christopher?"

"Well, I…" I didn't feel comfortable talking about it. It was a very personal experience to me. "We were together for one year and… I liked him a lot, I was very shy around him when we started going out but after some months… it was just… natural." I said. "But you know, he was the only one for me. Maybe you should ask Melanie." Melanie was another friend of ours who had had lots of boyfriends.

Elizabeth threw a pillow at me. "She's not that bad."

I laughed. "Yeah she is!"

The week after I'd moved back home, I accompanied my mother to the hospital for one of her usual check ups.

I told her I'd wait for her in uncle Greg's office. Obviously, when I entered the room, he wasn't there, but Robert and Dr. Cameron were standing next to the coffee machine and he was smiling at her. She was so pretty and he was so handsome, and I felt like a third wheel…

"Liv!" Robert noticed me. "Hi!"

"Hi…sorry, I was looking for my uncle…" I hesitated. "I see he's not here, I'll go look for him… somewhere else…bye."

I turned and started walking down the corridor. I saw a coffee machine in the corner and I stopped there, thinking caffeine would help me some.

I'd been there for a minute, drinking, when someone called my name. I turned around. "Dr. Cuddy…hello."

Dr. Cuddy looked good, as usual. She was probably the only person that I knew that could handle my uncle. I loved that about her.

"I appreciated your article, I told House to say that to you but he probably didn't." She smiled.

"Right, he didn't… I'm glad you liked it." I paused because I saw she focused her attention behind me and addressed a third person. "Chase, have you seen House?"

Robert looked confused for a second as he reached us. "Hum…no, he hasn't been in the office for almost two hours now…"

"If you excuse me, I have to go and find him." She rolled her eyes. "See you, Liv."

"Bye, Dr. Cuddy."

Robert smiled at me. "Hey, you didn't have to leave right away…"

"I didn't want to interfer with your work… yours and Cameron's." I said, emphasizing the last word.

"We aren't busy. Are you enjoying your summer holidays?"

"Yes." _Just fine until now, I didn't need to see you flirting with Cameron._

"You told me you're taking a summer course… when are you coming back?"

"On June 13th." I hesitated before adding: "Why?"

He grinned and lowered his voice. "Cause I thought… maybe we could drink something together, like last week."

I looked at him seriously and he frowned: "You remember last week, right?"

"Of course! I wasn't drunk!" I exclaimed. He laughed. "I know, I was kidding. So what do you say?"

"Well, I think I'll stick to the non-alcoholic stuff, but…yes, I'd like to-"

"Liv!"

People kept showing up. This time it was James's turn. "Hi, James…"

He looked at Robert like he was wondering what was going on, then asked me how I did on my finals. "I don't know yet…" that question never failed to make me feel nervous.

"I'm sure you did great. I just saw your mother briefly before she entered my colleague's office." He smiled reassuringly. "I have to go, have a nice day." He nodded to Robert and left.

Strangely enough, he hadn't left me in a daze like he usually did. I was feeling perfectly calm and collected.

"So… we were saying?" I looked at Robert.

"I was going to ask you if next Friday is fine with you."

I suddenly felt very pleased with myself. Maybe it was the way he had spoken, or the way he gazed at me. "It's perfect."

"Good. What time-"

"Liver!" Yet another interruption.

"Uncle, you know I hate that nickname!" I protested, as uncle Greg limped towards Robert and I. "I thought you'd stopped using it!"

"I can use it when I want to be particularly annoying." He replied. "I'm hiding from Cuddy."

"What a surprise." I sarcastically said.

"Don't get mouthy with me." He looked at Robert. "What are you doing?"

"I was looking for you and asked him if he knew where you were." I replied at once. I hoped Robert would get the hint. I didn't want my uncle to know about our date…if that could be considered a real date…

"Did you go and say hello to Jimmy? If you're lucky, you could even convince him to get a coffee with you somewhere." Uncle Greg said.

"Would you mind telling me why you always have to mention him when you see me?" I asked, annoyed.

He stared at me strangely. "You're smart but naïve, he's older and flawed." He glanced at Robert. "If you get my drift."

I stayed silent. _Who's he referring to? __James or Robert?_


	6. First date

Here I am updating again… I don't like the lame title of the chapter but it will have to do for now.

Disclaimer: does anyone seriously believe I own House MD? I only wish.

**6 - First date**

"Mom, I'm at uncle Greg's apartment… yeah, don't worry… okay, bye."

It was the night of Robert and I's date. Since I lived in Lakewood, about an hour away from Princeton, and I hadn't started the summer course in politics at college yet, I'd asked uncle Greg if I could spend the night so I wouldn't have to drive all the way back. He had agreed but reminded me he didn't have an extra bedroom and I'd have to sleep on the sofa.

I looked at him: he was watching some quiz show on tv. "Mom says hello and asks if you want to have dinner with us next week."

"Yeah, as long as you don't cook."

I frowned. "What do you mean? I can cook just fine!"

"You're a vegetarian." He pointed out.

"Excuse me if my diet is healthier than yours." I replied. "You do know that eating meat can cause heart problems and especially tumors and-"

"Tell Wilson that, he's the expert."

"Yeah, I'll definitely tell James when I see him." I sarcastically replied.

"Tell me what?"

I turned. James had just entered the apartment. "Oh, hi…"

"Hi, Liv. I thought your uncle told you I was coming over."

"No he didn't…" I glared at my uncle out of the corner of my eye. "But it doesn't matter, I'm going out soon."

"Who are you going out with?" uncle Greg asked me.

"Some friends from college who live around here. We're just going out to have some drinks." I lied.

"But you don't drink." He stated.

"Usually, I don't." I agreed. "That's why I'm thankful to whoever invented Coke. And Dr. Pepper. And all those good drinks."

"Yeah, I get it."

"What are you going to do?" I asked, eyeing James. He was standing next to me.

"I don't know, whatever Jimmy wants to do." Uncle replied absent-mindedly.

James rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure." He ironically said.

"Shut up! This is the final question for a million dollars!" uncle shouted when I tried to ask something else.

"Okay… I'd better go, I don't want to be late." I told James. "Have fun… as much fun as you can have staying with him, I mean." I whispered. He almost laughed. "Thanks, you have fun too."

I went outside and smiled to myself. I was supposed to meet Robert inside _Murphy's,_ the same pub where we had bumped into each other a couple of weeks before. When I entered there weren't many people inside and he wasn't there yet, so I sat in a corner and waited patiently, hoping he hadn't changed his mind about us going out together.

He arrived ten minutes later and sat in front of me. "Hi, Liv, sorry I'm late…" He was wearing a simple black shirt and some grey trousers. "Hospital duty… I needed to check on a patient and his exams." He explained.

"That's okay…" I had almost forgotten how great his accent sounded. "I haven't been here long… are you fine? You look exhausted…"

"Yeah, I'm fine… It's just been a long day. How have you been?"

I smiled. "Since last week? I'm great. I've been resting a lot at home, with nothing to worry about except making my bed, tidying my room and all that jazz... and I've spent some time with my friends who live in Lakewood… What about you? Been working a lot?"

He smiled as well. "Now that I'm here that doesn't matter."

That probably wasn't the first time he said such a thing to a girl, but I still blushed. Luckily the pub wasn't exactly one of the most well-lit places, so he probably didn't notice. "So… what will you have? I was thinking of ordering a Sheridan's, that's got coffee in it and it's one of the few drinks with alcohol that I like…" I was starting to ramble. I did that a lot when I was nervous or wasn't sure of what to say.

"I'll just have a beer."

The waitress stopped at our table and we told her what we wanted. Five minutes later, we were chatting happily with our drinks.

"Tell me something about yourself. Last time, I did most of the talking." I said.

"Well, I told you where I'm from and you know what my job is… you even know my favorite book. You ask and I'll answer."

"Okay. Let's see… since you're Australian… are you secretly a great surfer?"

He laughed. "Not really. I like swimming though."

"Your favorite movie?"

"I guess…_The fisher king. _Yours?"

"I have so many… probably _Forrest Gump. _What's the most beautiful city in the world for you?"

"I haven't travelled that much, but of all the places I visited… London was the one that struck me the most."

"You've been to London?" I asked excitedly. He nodded. "That's so cool, London's the first city in Europe that I want to visit when I go over there… in the future, I mean… how much time did you spend there?"

I had a real fetish for London. I had never been there, but from what I knew and what I'd seen on tv, it looked amazing.

And Robert was really interesting. Talking with him was really pleasant, it didn't seem to chat with a stranger, someone I barely knew. But he didn't seem to want to talk about his family or his life back in Australia, I had no idea why.

"Do you want to have a walk outside? It's such a beautiful night." He suggested when we'd finished drinking.

He was right, I hadn't really noticed before, on my way over there, but it was a cool, serene night of early June and walking was much better than sitting inside some pub.

We walked a lot. We walked around the astonishing-looking Princeton buildings, that always managed to impress me with their Gothic decorations even if I'd lived there for almost three years, and we never stopped talking.

"Why did you stop?" I asked Robert, when he stood under Holder Hall archway. He smiled and motioned to reach him. I did and looked up. "What-"

He put a finger on my lips and slowly came closer to me. It seemed like a long time before our lips touched and we shared a kiss. A long, long kiss. And if we hadn't run out of breath, we probably wouldn't have parted soon.

"Liv…" he whispered. "I like you a lot."

"I like you too…"

We kissed under that arch for a long time.

--------------------------------------------------------------

When I entered uncle Greg's apartment I tried not to make too much noise. I took off my jacket and shoes and headed toward the kitchen to drink some water.

"Finally back! What took you so long?"

"Uncle Greg! You scared me to death, I thought you were sleeping!" I complained as I looked around for the source of the voice. "What are you doing… lying on the sofa?"

"I didn't feel like getting up once Wilson went home and I stayed here. It's…" he glanced at the clock. "It's almost two in the morning. Did you have fun with your boyfriend?"

"I don't have a boyfriend…"

"Why, the guy you went out with tonight was boring and you decided to not see him again?"

"What is this, an inquisition?" I sarcastically said. "I told you I was going out with some friends-"

"I'm not that old yet, I know you went out with a boy. Or man, who knows." He made a face. "But Wilson was with me, I invited him on purpose so I would make sure you two wouldn't do any weird things together. I shudder at the idea."

I looked at him strangely. "Whatever… believe what you want. Why are you still awake?"

"You'd never guess how many interesting shows there are at this time of night on tv."

"I think I'm better off not knowing…"

When I got back to the living room after I'd changed for the night, uncle Greg was asleep on the sofa. Or, more probably, faking it, so I ended up sleeping in his comfortable large bed. _I wonder if Robert's asleep yet._ I smiled. I couldn't believe we'd been kissing for an hour under Holder Hall archway.


	7. Family

I haven't updated in a while… so here's a long chapter! Let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: I don't own House. David Shore does…

**7 - Family**

_Dear diary,_

_I don't even know why I'm starting this… I've never been able to keep a diary for long, despite my love for everything that concerns writing. In fact, if my friend Elizabeth hadn't given this book to me as a gift, I probably wouldn't be here trying to put down my thoughts and ideas right now. What to say first? I'm in one double room in Rockefeller College in Princeton (which is quite nice but not as nice as the one I share with Kate, one of my best friends, during the school year) and I am waiting for another girl to join me, since tomorrow all summer courses start. It's four in the afternoon and I'm quite bored, honestly I…_

I put down the pen and sighed. "I wish I could see Robert."

It wasn't impossible. I could simply go to the hospital to say hello to uncle Greg or something… and Robert would be there unless it was his day off. And even if I couldn't talk much with him, I'd at least see him.

I wanted to wait for my roommate to arrive so I'd introduce myself, but I didn't want to waste the rest of the afternoon because of her. So, less than an hour later, I left the room and headed to Starbucks and got some coffee for me and some muffins and cookies for uncle Greg and his… what had he called them again? …ducklings.

While I was on the elevator I was feeling nervous. After that night out with Robert, we had only talked on the phone because I had stayed in Lakewood, my home town, for the whole week. I was glad to be back in Princeton, I could see him easily now… that is, if he wanted to go out together again.

My uncle was the only one in his office when I entered the room. He looked very pensive and I realized that maybe it wasn't a good idea to show up uninvited… but I wasn't going to stay for long. "Hi, uncle Greg…"

He looked up. "Hi, Liv. Did you bring something good to eat?"

"Just a couple of things for you and… your team… from Starbucks, while I was coming here. I'm back in town for my summer course, you know, the one in politics I told you about?, well, anyway, I just got here this morning and since I don't have anything to do until tomorrow, I thought I'd visit." I explained.

I thought I saw a smile, but he quickly hid it. "What did you get for Wilson?"

Once again, I ignored him. "I'm in a good mood today, so I don't mind how many sarcastic remarks you may make, I won't get mad." I looked around. "Where are your ducklings?" I asked in the most casual way possible.

"They're treating a patient."

"So you have another of your very difficult… let me rephrase that, almost-impossible-to-solve cases? What's the matter this time?"

"Actually, the patient's cured now thanks to my everlasting intelligence. They're just giving him the final antibiotics before letting him go home."

"Great. Are you even keeping a list of the hundreds of unfeasible cases you've solved?"

"I would need a bigger library than the one you have in your college." And that was saying something, considering the immensity of the Princeton library.

We ended up drinking some coffee (yes, I'd already drunk the one from Starbucks but my uncle made some and I couldn't refuse a cup of good coffee). I was trying to convince him why Socrates was better than all other philosophers, when Dr. Foreman and Dr. Cameron entered the office.

"Where's Chase?" uncle Greg asked. "Flirting with the patient's girlfriend?"

"He's coming." Dr. Cameron said, before smiling to me. "Hi, Liv."

I smiled back at them. "Hi!" Dr. Foreman didn't look too friendly, but Dr. Cameron was really nice. I guess sometimes in order to live with my uncle you have to be like that, or go nuts.

When Robert showed up, we didn't really have the chance to talk. But I was happy to see him nevertheless.

About half an hour later I said goodbye to everybody and left the office. While I was getting on the elevator, Robert reached me and got on as well. The doors closed, it was the two of us and another man.

"So you saved another life. Congratulations." I told Robert.

"It was all your uncle's doing." He replied. "I was wondering…"

The doors opened and the other man got off. Then the doors closed again. "…you're in town for your course, right?"

"Yeah." I nodded. I really wished I could kiss him… but we were almost on the ground floor.

"Do you want to have dinner with me tomorrow?"

I barely left him the time to finish speaking before answering. "Yes".

--------------------------------------------------------

The restaurant where Robert and I went was a nice place. It wasn't too big and it was kind of classy, but not too much. And there were lots of good vegetarian dishes on the menu.

"So why did you decide to become a doctor?" I asked at one point during our dinner. "Have you always wanted to be one, or…"

"No, I only made up my mind during the last year of high school."

I was really interested to know why he had come to America and I asked him. "I'd just finished medical school and my father suggested I worked for your uncle. I was lucky enough to be hired and now here I am."

He told me a little about the differences between Australia and US. It was refreshing to speak to someone who came from a very different background, but not so different that relating became an impossible task.

We were eating the dessert when a couple entered the restaurant. The woman looked in her early forties, she had curly brown hair and she was wearing a simple yet elegant dress. The man had short grey hair, he was tall and had a pleasant smile.

I knew that smile too well. It was pretty much like mine. I cursed.

"Something's wrong?" Robert asked before looking around.

"No, well, maybe, I mean, would you mind if we left? Now?" I pleaded. He nodded. "Sure."

I tried to cover my face while we passed near the couple's table after Robert had paid. When we were finally outside, I felt much relieved. "Thanks. I didn't want to… I didn't want that man to see me." I said. I had wrapped my arms around myself almost unconsciously. "He's my father. In the biological sense, because he certainly has been no father to me. I haven't talked to him since I graduated high school… and I'd like for things to stay that way." I explained.

Robert was staring at me, listening, so I went on speaking. "My mom raised me on her own. When I was a child, we lived with my grandparents, they were great help. And uncle Greg's been pretty much my father figure and… I don't know, I just can't stand to see that man. I don't hate him or anything, I just don't want to see him. He never really wanted to get to know me." I looked at Robert: "I know it may seem weird to you…"

"No. I understand the way you feel." He had a very serious look on his face. "Are you sure you're okay?" He put a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah." I nodded. "I have no idea what… he's doing here in Princeton. He lives in Trenton, so…" I was feeling confused. I hadn't seen that man in years, he was just a stranger to me, but he still had the power of affecting me deeply. I hated it.

"To be honest… I don't get along with my father either." Robert said. "He hasn't been the greatest father one could hope for. He's disappointed me a lot, so in the end I stopped hoping he'd change. But it's normal to care, it's human."

It was nice to know we had something in common that went beyond favorite movies or foods. "Oh well, their loss." I replied. Then I thought it'd be best to change subject, I didn't want Robert to pity me or something, because it was completely unnecessary. "Look, about my uncle… do you think we're doing the right thing going out together? I mean, you work with him, I wouldn't want him to act even worse than usual and treat you badly. I'm sure he wouldn't do anything really nasty, just… he can be really unpleasant sometimes with all his sarcastic remarks…"

"I'm used to it by now. I think it's up to you, if you wanna tell him, I don't mind."

_What's there to tell? _I thought. We had only gone out twice. Not counting the time we had met each other in the pub. "I'm not gonna tell him anything for now."

Robert nodded. "Do you want to go back to your dorm? We both have to get up early tomorrow."

I didn't really want to go back yet, but he had work in the morning and I had my lessons.

"Thanks for everything." I said when we had reached the university. I really didn't want to get off of his car.

"Thank you for the evening."

I kissed him. "Goodnight, Robert."

"Night, Liv…"

As I walked towards my dorm, I sighed, thinking about what was awaiting me. The girl I was rooming with for the weeks of the summer course was one of the most annoying people I had ever met. And she was very nosy.

"Hey, welcome back!" she exclaimed as soon as I'd opened the door. She was wearing her pyjamas already and she had tied her brown hair back in a ponytail. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah…"

"Where did you go? I've heard there's a new restaurant in town which is supposedly really good, but I'm not sure if it's expensive or not. Did you-"

"I only had dinner out with a friend. What did you do, Emma?" I asked, hoping she'd leave me alone, even though I didn't really care to hear her reply.

"I went to the cinema with my boyfriend, but we had a fight over the stupidest things and so I came back early because I didn't want to be around him anymore for tonight." She kept on chatting about nonsense while I basically ignored her. I wasn't going to let her ruin the night after I'd had a good time with Robert. _My father already did that, _I thought sadly.

----------------------------------------------------------

"Liv, I didn't know you had a boyfriend!"

"What? Emma, what are you talking about?" I asked, annoyed, as I entered the room we shared the following day, after my course was over.

She pointed at a huge bouquet of roses which was on my desk. "Ten minutes ago, they brought these flowers for you. I told them they could leave them to me, since you were busy."

"Wow…" I was speechless. The roses were beautiful. They definitely had to be expensive, too.

I looked for the note which accompanied them. _Hope your day has been great so far. Call me when you're finished with your lessons -Robert_

"I can't believe it…" I whispered.

"So is it from your boyfriend or not?"

I was ready to strangle Emma. Why didn't she leave me alone? "No, he's not my boyfriend. Doesn't your course start just about… now?" I asked.

"Yeah, I should go or I'll be late. See you."

When she'd left the room, I collected my thoughts calmly and wondered if Robert would answer if I called him that moment… it was midday, maybe he was having lunch…

I decided to give it a try. He did answer. "Hi, it's me… thank you for the roses, I love them! You made my day... I don't have much to do now, I think I'll go for a walk and then read or something. How's it going at the hospital, is it really busy?"

We chatted for a while before he said he had to leave. When he hung up, I called my mom to hear how she was doing. It was Thursday and I still didn't know if I was going home for the weekend or not: if I could spend some time with Robert, I would do that gladly.

He really was a sweet guy. He seemed smart, too, and he was very charming.

But I couldn't help but wonder about uncle Greg. What did he think of Robert? What would he think if he knew we were kind of dating? His judgment was important to me, but I wasn't going to change my mind about going out with a guy just because my uncle wouldn't approve of him. After all, he hadn't been crazy about my first boyfriend, Christopher, either. _Christopher… it's strange how I can think about him without feeling my heart breaking. People really do change._


	8. Christopher

I'm not really sure about the way this chapter came out, but I hope it's not _terrible._

Disclaimer: I don't own House MD.

**8 - Christopher**

"Shouldn't you be going back to your college?"

"Not yet. Maybe if I'm lucky, when I get back, Emma will be sleeping already."

I was in uncle Greg's living room, sitting on his sofa, watching some documentary about Egyptians Pharaohs on tv. I'd been there for hours and before of that I had met Robert briefly. I was trying to avoid Emma as much as possible, she was getting more and more annoying each day.

"What did she ever do to you?"

"Let's see. She called me Olivia twice, even after I'd told her my name is simply Liv, and she wanted to know why, and I told her mom's a fan of Liv Ullmann. She's nosy as hell. She wanted to know how I did on the finals. She chats all the time when we're both in our dorm room, with me or on the phone. I suspect she even talks in her sleep, but I'm not sure. She-"

"Okay, okay. I get it." Uncle Greg nodded. "Doesn't she have a life? Why is she so interested in yours?"

"Who knows. She's got a boyfriend and they see each other everyday, but she still finds time to bother me." I replied. "Hey, I didn't know that was the correct pronunciation of Tutankhamen." I added, as some archeologist spoke about the pharaoh.

"What's up with you and your obsession with dead pharaohs?"

"Ancient Egypt is fascinating. Let me listen."

Despite his protests (he wanted to watch some dumb soap opera), he let me watch until the documentary was over. It was 10.30 by then and I decided I'd leave him alone and go back to the dorm.

Just when I'd almost reached my room, my phone rang. I looked at the name on the screen: it was Emma. Sighing, I answered: "Hello?" I listened. She was with her boyfriend and she asked me if I could wait an hour or so before going to the dorm. "Are you kidding? It's almost 11, where am I supposed to go?" She said I could go to the pub or something. I sighed. "Okay. I'll be there by midnight though, so make sure you… hurry up." I shuddered at the mental image conjured by my words.

Reluctantly, I went to sit in Murphy's pub. I thought about the various ways of getting back at Emma and then my thoughts shifted to Robert. I wondered what he was doing. I was considering the idea of calling him when someone sat beside me. "Hi, Liv."

I turned and almost choked on the coffee. "What are you doing here?"

"You aren't happy to see me?"

I stared at him. He looked always the same, maybe just more tired. His grey eyes looked sleepy, his light brown hair was a bit longer than the last time I'd seen him and it fell beside his eyes. His smile… was so unnatural. "Christopher… I thought you'd moved to Long Branch…"

"I have, but Long Branch isn't so far from here." He turned to the bartender and ordered some alcoholic drink I'd never heard of before. "I thought you'd be in Lakewood by now." He said then.

"I was… I'm here for a summer course."

"Oh, sure. Always the hard-working one." He smiled. "How are you, Liv?"

I'd almost forgotten how intense his eyes got when he stared at me. "I'm… good. How are you?"

"Not so good. It's nice to see you though… it makes me feel better."

I looked at him suspiciously. "Are you still… doing…"

"You can say the word. Yes, I'm still doing drugs. And don't tell me off, I know what you think about it."

"Yeah, you know what I think! And you know that's the only reason I broke up with you!" I said, indignantly. "Why do you feel the need to… nevermind, I'll never understand."

Christopher had tried pretty much every kind of drug known to man. He took lots all the time, not just every now and then. When I'd found out, at first I'd tolerated it, hoping it was just a phase, then I'd begged him to stop, because it was dangerous, then I'd got mad because he'd lied to me saying he was over abusing drugs when he really wasn't. I'd eventually broken up with him. It was awful, because I was still in love, but I just couldn't stay with him if he didn't change. And he couldn't do that, not even for me.

"Yeah, you'll never understand. You're such a goodie two shoes." He laughed. Then his expression softened. "That's why I loved you. You were different from everyone else."

I didn't reply at first. "I hate drugs. They mess up people." I looked at him: "You were such a great person before them."

I got up and quickly left the pub. He followed me though and caught up with me. "Liv, wait… don't be mad at me." He grabbed my arm gently and forced me to look at him. "I thought you loved me."

"I did."

"Then why can't you forget about that… and just talk with me like you'd do with an old friend?"

"Chris, are you dumb or what? First, you hurt me, and… we'll never be friends, because I've loved you too much!" I exclaimed. "I truly believed things could work for us… I thought you were the one. I thought we were perfect…"

I was feeling close to tears, but I wouldn't cry. Not in front of him.

He had let go of my arm and now looked embarrassed. "I wanted things to work too. I don't think I've ever told you, but…" he put his right hand on my cheek. "I'm sorry. To quote Holden Caulfield, I know you probably think I'm a phony… but I really didn't want to hurt you. I hope you can forgive me someday."

"I believe you." I whispered. "And I don't have to forgive anything. You've given me so much, you've taught me lots of things. I'm grateful for our time together."

His eyes widened. "You sound so mature. What happened to you?" When I glared at him, he started laughing. "I was kidding!"

"Oh, you better. Listen… is there anything I can do to help you?" In spite of everything, I couldn't be mad at Christopher. He was the kind of person that's impossible to hate.

"No. My brother and I… are living together in Long Branch. We're helping each other."

Christopher's family was very messed up. He had three sisters and one brother, and his parents weren't the greatest. They cared about their kids, they just lacked a lot of common sense. All the children had become very independent when they were young, and Chris was no different. He'd always felt very lonely and when we'd first met, I was feeling pretty lonely, too, so we complemented each other well. We had the same views on lots of things. I thought I was enough for him… but apparently he had to resort to drugs to fill that empty space.

"Okay. I have to go…" I stepped closer and hugged him. "Take care, I don't want you to get sick."

"You too. I'll throw you a huge party when you get your degree next year." He smiled. "You deserve it."

I nodded. "Bye, Christopher."

I walked away and when I was sure he wouldn't try to reach me, I started crying.

Ten minutes later, I was at my uncle's apartment. He opened the door and let me in. "What the hell-"

He stopped talking when he realized I was weeping. "I'm sorry… I couldn't go back to my dorm…"

He closed the door and put his arm around my shoulder. "Come on, let's sit."

---------------------------------------------------

"You could tell me what happened with Christopher, after you woke me up at midnight."

I sipped some coffee and groaned. "I have a headache. Can you give me something?"

"No. Unless you tell me what's going on."

"I don't feel like talking about it. I'm sorry for waking you up, I told you." I'd only told my uncle I'd met Christopher but I was crying too much to be able to explain what had happened.

"Okay, fine. Can you cope… being alone? I'm late for work."

I made a face. "I'm not going to slit my wrists if that's what you're worried about. I don't love Christopher anymore, he just… seeing him just made me feel… weird."

"That's really a great explanation." He sarcastically remarked. "Maybe you could come to the hospital with me and see Wilson."

"What, you think if I see James I'll forget everything about Christopher and be all happy-go-lucky?" I asked, annoyed.

"Actually… yeah." He nodded.

"Thank you very much, my headache's just gotten worse." I grabbed my bag. "Bye."

"Where are you going?"

"Back to my dorm to get some sleep."

"Funny, I thought I was the one who hadn't slept last night because of you."

I sighed. "I only kept you up for, what, a hour?"

"Still. I need my beauty sleep, you know?"

"Whatever you say." I opened the door.

"Yeah, you better go. Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing." He exclaimed.

I turned around and looked at him, partly amused and partly exhausted: "_Oscar Wilde_ said that. Bye, uncle Greg."

----------------------------------------------------

"No, Kate, I told you, it was so unexpected! I thought… for a minute I thought maybe he was back for me. But that wasn't the case. It's not that I want him back, it's just that… he never really said sorry. Well he did, the other night, but when we broke up last year, he acted like it was all my fault. You remember…"

I was on the phone with Kate. She was at home in Minnesota and even if I had to keep the phone call short, I just had so much to say that I couldn't write in an email. I needed to vent. I missed her and her advice a lot.

"I'm not in love with him anymore. Look, I…" I paused. "I really like Robert. We've been going out for the whole summer now, and I can't wait for school to start again because after my course finished last month, I've been driving back and forth from Lakewood to Princeton and it's not exactly the most wonderful thing in the world. Even if I'd been crashing down at my uncle's house a lot: he acted like I was robbing him of his space, but I suspected he enjoyed some company.

Kate asked me how things were going between us. "I feel great when I'm with him. He's starting to open up a little more, at first he was really reserved, but I don't think it's 'cause he's shy… it must be something else… what?" She'd interrupted me. "No, we haven't! Not yet… you think I'm making him wait too much?"

_That_ was one of my main concerns. Robert was older than me, and even if I could wait, maybe he was getting impatient. After all, he was a guy.

Kate said I shouldn't feel pressured but I was getting nervous and started talking about something else, until I glanced at the clock and thought I'd better get ready. " I was going to get some coffee with Robert.

"Hey, sorry I'm late…" I apologized as I reached Robert who had gotten to the bar before me.

"You're not late." He smiled. "So, in about a week you start college again. How do you feel?"

"I can't wait!" I enthusiastically said. "I miss my friend Kate a lot, so it will be great to see her again… and also I'll be back in town, it's a plus. I'll be able to see you whenever I want." That sounded wrong. "I mean…"

"I know what you mean. I'm glad you're coming back, I want to spend more time with you."

Robert and I were having a good time… until I saw a familiar face out of the corner of my eye. I almost choked on my coffee. "Oh no…"

For the first time since I'd met him, I didn't feel like smiling to the person who waved at me and left the bar with his coffee. I sighed. "Great, now James is going to tell my uncle about us…"

Robert looked indifferent. "So?"

I looked at him in disbelief. "You shouldn't be so… unconcerned. My uncle could make your life a living hell and you know it. I mean, it's not his business if I go out with you, he can't complain if I like you, because I really do, and…" I stopped talking. "What?"

Robert was almost laughing. "Nothing, it's just you're cute when you're embarrassed."

I blushed. "I just don't want him to get in our way!"

He squeezed my hand. "He won't. He can't kill me, relax."

For some reason I couldn't.

----------

What do you guys think? Review, please!


	9. The puzzle's solved

New update! I'm particularly happy because of the Academy Awards later tonight… hope you like the chapter!

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own House MD but I wish I'd at least own Dr. Chase.

**9 – The puzzle's solved**

I was really afraid my uncle would strangle Robert or do something equally bad, once James told him he had seen us together. But when I spoke with Robert on the phone, the following day, he said my uncle was being his usual unpleasant self: sarcastic to everyone, but not particularly nasty to him.

"I can't believe it." I told Kate, as we were tidying up our apartment. For our final college year, we had decided we wouldn't stay on campus and had rented a place in town instead. "I thought my uncle would find out for sure and yell at me and at him."

"I think you should thank Dr. Wilson." Kate suggested. "If I were you, I'd be really, really grateful that he kept his mouth shut."

"I'll probably go and do that. Once this place is clean!"

Our apartment was large enough for us: there was a kitchen and a joint living room, two medium-sized bedrooms and one bathroom. We'd moved in the previous day and when, later, we finally finished cleaning I felt relieved.

"Kate, I'm going to the hospital! Do you want me to get something to eat so we don't have to cook dinner when I come back?" I asked as I put on my shoes.

"Some pizza would be nice!" she replied from her bedroom.

I looked inside. "Anything else you need while I'm out?"

She stopped folding her clothes for a second. "No, thanks. Hey, now we have our apartment you can invite Robert to come over."

"But he has his own place that could come in handy!" I replied smiling. "Later!"

There was some traffic, probably because everyone was moving back in town for the start of the school year, so it took me a little longer than usual to reach Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. When I finally did, I knocked on James' office door quite nervously and he let me in, smiling. "Hey, Liv. I thought I'd see you."

"Hello, James…" I quietly walked in. "I wanted to say thanks, for not telling my uncle about Robert and I. It's not that I'm hiding things from him, but I don't want him to be obnoxious to Robert. You know what he's like…"

"Yeah, I know." His dark eyes seemed to smile as well. "I saw no reason to tell. If I'd seen you two in a graveyard involved in some satanic ritual, I might have."

"Not our kind of thing." I smiled weakly.

"I'm surprised House still hasn't found out actually. He seems to know everything, all the time."

"Yeah, I consider it a small miracle." I agreed.

James smiled. "I think he'd like to hear it from you before he finds out from anyone else."

"I don't think he'll take it well either way." I muttered.

"If it's something serious, he'll find out sooner or later. I know it's not my business, but take it from me… he won't be as unpleasant if you tell him first. Your relationship's something serious, right?"

I didn't know how to reply to that. "Well…"

They knocked on the door, interrupting our conversation. _Lucky me!_

My uncle entered the room. _I guess I'm not that lucky after all. _He eyed me strangely."Are you sick?"

"No…" I shook my head. "I…" I tried to think of a good excuse, but everything that came to mind sounded so bad that I knew he wouldn't believe me.

"Liv just needed some help for a medical article she's writing for the Princetonian." James to the rescue. "I was telling her about the newest techniques to treat cancer." I could have kissed him right there and then. Well, if I hadn't been with Robert. "What do you need?"

"I need to talk to you about a patient." Uncle Greg glanced at me. "You done here?"

"Yeah!" I got up. "Thank you James… for everything." I smiled gratefully.

"No problem."

"Hey, I want to read the article when you've finished it." My uncle said.

_Oh man. _"Sure. I'll bring it over. Bye!"

I hurriedly left the office and the hospital cursing under my breath. _Great. Just great. What am I supposed to write, I don't know a thing about cancer and my uncle is surely expecting I talk about it in my article. _Of course, I could just search on the internet, but he'd probably notice unless I copied it from some unknown website, that would probably also be unreliable. And what if I wrote something wrong? My uncle would tease James to no end after that and he'd may even suspect something.

My phone rang and I answered without looking: "Hello?" It was Robert. "Hey… sorry, I didn't really pay attention…" He'd seen me leave the hospital in a hurry but I hadn't noticed him. I explained what had happened. "So now I better write a convincing article about cancer… and I better do some research."

"Well, if you want… I could help you. I'm not a specialist but I've studied it, and I have some books." He offered.

"You would do that?" I asked happily.

"Yeah. It's no problem."

"Thank you so much, I love you!" Just after I'd uttered those words, I felt like I'd gone too far. "I mean, hum…" I blushed and was thankful he couldn't see me. "I… will talk to you later. Bye." I hung up. Well, I hadn't offended him, but some guys just didn't like when girls told them they loved them when they'd only been going out for some months. And I'd only said it because of an impulse. _Next time, think before you speak, Liv. _I mentally reprimanded myself.

_-----------------------------------------------_

"Hi." Robert opened the door for me smiling, but his expression quickly changed to one of surprise when he saw the huge bag I was holding. "What…" he hesitated. "What's all that?"

As he let me enter his apartment, I started explaining: "I baked a chocolate cake for you, mainly to say thanks for helping me and also because I felt like cooking, and while I was at it I also made some brownies, but I'm not sure how they taste because I almost never make them, so if they're lousy you can just throw them away." I paused. "And I also brought some CDs to lend you, they're favorites of mine, remember I told you I wanted you to listen to Our Lady Peace and Counting Crows?"

He looked amazed. "Wow… you sure have a lot of energy."

I smiled. "Every once in a while, I get like this."

"Thank you, you didn't need to cook… and everything else. Well, let's eat some cake."

"Now?"

"Yeah. You had dinner, didn't you?"

I nodded and we sat at the kitchen table. I'd been in Robert's apartment only once before and I hadn't stayed for long, but I really liked it. It was neat, simple but nice. I thought it was quite large, too, for just one person. Despite the one bedroom, the kitchen and the living room were huge.

We ate some cake (Robert remarked that it was delicious) and then he made some coffee for me (he didn't drink much), then I let him explain medical stuff to me, I asked several questions and took notes. Almost an hour later, we were done. "I think it's enough. Thanks…" I kissed him. "You taste good. Like chocolate."

"You too." He kissed me back.

He smelled so good and he looked just as great. I didn't want to break the kiss. I didn't want to part from him. As we kissed, I started unbuttoning his shirt. When I took it off, he parted for a second: "Are you-"

"Yeah." I cut him off.

But before we could move to the bedroom, his pager went off. He groaned and reached for it. "It's your uncle."

"What? Has he got supernatural powers or something?" I complained.

"It wouldn't surprise me." He muttered while he put on his shirt. "I have to go. But if you want to stay… hopefully I won't come back too late. If things take too long at the hospital, I'll call you."

"Okay." I kissed him briefly. "I'll miss you."

He smiled in a way that made him look so adorable. I really wished he didn't have to go. "I'll miss you too."

The door closed behind him. I started thinking what to do while waiting for him to come back. I eventually watched some rerun of _The West Wing_ on tv, read some magazine that I found on the kitchen table and then, because I was bored and I thought Robert wouldn't mind, I washed the few dishes that were in the sink.

_I feel like I'm his mother or something. _I thought when I was done. I sighed. I really hoped he would come back from the hospital soon.

I sat on the sofa and waited. It was eleven and I was starting to feel sleepy…

"Liv? It's six in the morning…" I was awoken by Robert's soft voice.

"What?" I quickly sat up. "Six? I… I fell asleep. I'm sorry…"

"It's okay." Robert looked exhausted. "I sent you a message to let you know I wouldn't be back anytime soon, but you'd probably dozed off already."

"I think so…" I rubbed my eyes. "Was it something bad at the hospital?"

"Some complications on a patient." He said tiredly. "Your uncle just let us all go home to sleep, because we could barely stand."

He really needed to lay down and get some rest, it was obvious, and I was feeling quite awake, so I left.

While I was getting into my car, my phone started ringing. Who could be calling at six in the morning? I looked at the display. My uncle. Maybe something bad had happened, I frantically thought as I answered. "Uncle, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Why?"

"Because… you're calling me so early…"

"I'm still in the hospital-"

I cut him off. "Because of some complications on one of your patients?"

"Yeah. How do you know?"

"Well… I guessed." I lied. "What else could you be doing there at this time?"

"True. I just wanted to leave you a message anyway, but since you answered… I wanted to tell you to come over for dinner tonight, and bring your article."

"Well, I still-"

"I gotta go. Bye."

"Okay…" I muttered. _Plan of the day: go home, have breakfast since I'm fully awake by now, and write a damn good article. And think about the way I should tell my uncle about Robert and I._

_---------------------------------------------_

I was very nervous when I reached my uncle's house that night. I'd decided I'd tell him about my current boyfriend. When I entered, he asked me if Chinese food was fine with me because he didn't feel like cooking and he was going to order something.

"I can cook if you want to…" I suggested.

"I don't think so. You could poison me and spare Wilson."

"What-?"

The doorbell rang again and my uncle opened to James. "Hey, you're late."

"Sorry, got stuck in traffic. Hi, Liv."

"Hi… uncle Greg didn't tell me you were having dinner with us." _What the hell is going on now?_

"Yeah, I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all." Maybe things wouldn't be so bad if James was with us.

My uncle eyed us warily as, later, we started eating. I was sitting next to James and uncle Greg was in front of us. He had basically ordered lots of meat but luckily for me there was some rice and tofu.

He suddenly started speaking. "So, I've come to one conclusion. I've been trying to solve this puzzle and all the pieces seem to go well together." He looked at me: "I don't know what you wanted from Wilson but it wasn't help for an article. I thought I'd call the both of you to find out. On the other hand, I thought about it, especially this morning, and it's strange that you were already awake at six, and you sounded so sure when you said complications had arisen for a patient. So, Wilson could have told you that, or…" he paused. "Chase. If you were in his apartment when he got back at six. Am I right?"

I was speechless. James looked at me and then at my uncle. "Look, House, I think-"

"You shut up. I want to hear Liv's justification."

"Liv doesn't owe you an explanation for coming to see me and she certainly doesn't owe you one because she was awake early in the morning!" James exclaimed. "She's probably the nicest girl in the world, you're lucky you've got a niece like this-"

"So nice that she lies to me about her relationship with Chase." Uncle Greg remarked.

"I didn't lie!" I shouted. He turned to face me. "Not exactly… I just didn't tell you right away because… you know why! I was sure you would've started treating Robert differently and you're bad enough already! Don't make that face, you are, and I didn't want things for him to get worse. Especially because I don't even know how serious things are between us!"

"I'd say things are serious, if you're sleeping with him." He sarcastically said.

I felt embarrassed but shook my head. "We haven't… last night I was over at his apartment but he left when you called, and then I was waiting for him to come back and I fell asleep. But-"

"How long have you been going out?"

"Since June." I reluctantly replied.

"Okay." He said nonchalantly and went back to eating.

"Okay?" I repeated. "That's it?"

"Yeah, what d'you think I'd do? Hit Chase with my cane? It wouldn't be a bad idea but I think I'll pass."

I glanced at James. He looked doubtful just like me. "So you'll leave him alone?"

"As long as he treats you well, I won't do anything to him."

I remembered when I'd broken up with Christopher. Uncle Greg had comforted me but he had never threatened of killing Christopher, so I thought it was weird that now he'd say that about Robert.

"He treats me well." I stressed each word.

I thought it was extremely strange that my uncle was going to let the subject drop that quickly. But I was an adult… and he wasn't exactly the fatherly type, even if my mom said he truly cared like a father for me but just didn't show it much.

"So that's solved. Now… what did you need Wilson for?"

James and I rolled our eyes.


	10. I love your accent

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I'm glad there are people who like this story!

Disclaimer: I don't own House. Soon it'll be my birthday though, if someone wants to give me Chase/Jesse as a gift!

**10 – I love your accent**

"Liv!"

I pretended not to hear. I was comfortably sitting on my bed and reading and I didn't want to move.

"Liv, have you gone deaf?"

Suddenly my bedroom's door opened and Kate came in, looking furious. "Are you ignoring me?"

"Are you kidding?" I joked.

"It's not funny." She complained. "I had a fight with Walt." She sat next to me. She looked very distressed.

"You've been fighting a lot lately…" I gingerly pointed out. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. No. I don't know. It just seems everything we talk about sooner or later turns into a discussion."

"You've been with him for almost two years, maybe-"

"Don't say it!"

I eyed her warily. "I still haven't said anything…"

"It's just a phase, I'm sure it'll pass." She assured me. "Anyway, I thought tonight we should go out and have fun, just us girls!"

"Us girls who?"

"You, me, Michelle, Jill and Natalie."

"Natalie?" I made a face. "You know I can't stand her!"

"You just don't like her because she hit on Christopher before you hooked up with him. Besides, you're not forced to talk with her."

"First of all, she still kept hitting on Chris when we were together." I reminded her, then I looked down at my notebook. "And besides, I need to write an article for the Princetonian, check four articles that people have submitted to the paper…"

"Being editor-in-chief is not easy, is it?"

"It keeps me really busy." I agreed. I had become editor-in-chief after the last one had graduated the previous May. "And I also have to read and analyze Coleridge's _Kubla Khan_ for my English literature class and do the laundry… so I can't go out tonight. I need to do all this by tomorrow."

"But tomorrow you don't have any lessons! You're free!"

"Yeah, but if I do these things today I'll be able to do other stuff tomorrow. I can't get behind."

She made a face. "College only started a week ago. You're a freak."

"Thanks, love you too." I distractedly said, still scanning through the article in front of me. "Kate… do you know a guy called Sam Anderson?"

"No, why?"

"Just because… he has a great writing style, but this is the first article he's submitted to the Princetonian. Maybe he's just started college."

"Maybe. What did he write about?"

"Environmental issues. Not in a boring way, either. If more people were like him-"

Kate interrupted me. "Okay, don't start with your lecture about environment and animal rights because I'm not really in the mood!"

"I wasn't going to!" She raised her eyebrows at me. "Well, maybe. Still, I like people who speak their mind about problematical topics and… Kate! Are you listening?"

She'd left my room. I rolled my eyes and went back to check the articles, until Kate told me she was going out.

"Okay." I mumbled. "Have fun."

The real reason I didn't want to go out with her was that I was hoping Robert would call me and we would meet, and maybe… start things over from when we'd left off the other time. _Maybe he doesn't like me as much as I do. Maybe he wants to break things off with me because of my uncle. Maybe… _

While I thought bitterly of all these possibilities, my phone rang. I excitedly answered: "Hello?" It was one of my classmates. "Oh, hi, Kay…" She asked me about a lesson she'd missed. I'd just hung up when the phone rang again. This time it was my mom, who wanted to hear how I was doing and asked me if I was going home for the weekend.

I went on doing my work, but at 10 I was getting bored. _Screw that, I'm going out! _

I quickly changed and grabbed my bag. I didn't bother to put any make up on and when I reached Kate and the other girls in the pub where they were hanging out, Natalie was the first one to point out I looked really pale and worn-out. "I guess I should go to the tanning salon and get skin cancer like you, huh?" She was really tanned. So much, that it looked unhealthy. Normally, I was jealous of people who tanned well, because I had a very fair complexion, but never would I be jealous of her.

"Liv, I've only seen you once in the past week!" Michelle exclaimed. "What's up with you and your boyfriend? Kate says he's cute, I want to see him as well!"

I blushed. "Kate's only seen him from a distance. He works a lot, so, I don't know when you can see him. Unless you get sick."

"Why?"

"He works at Princeton-Plainsboro." I said.

"He's studying to be a doctor then?" Michelle asked me. Kate was talking with Jill and I couldn't understand if Natalie was listening to us or not.

"He already is. He is specialized in intensive care, and-"

I was interrupted by Kate. "Liv, what was the name of that guy again?"

"What guy?"

"The one who wrote the article you were talking about earlier…"

"Sam Anderson?"

"Yeah, Jill knows him. She's telling me he's apparently really hot." Kate explained.

"He is! You should see him." She told me from the other side of the table.

"I saw him, I think. When he brought the article. I didn't really pay attention because I was checking my email."

We kept chatting. I told Michelle a lot about Robert, I liked talking about him to people, because he was a great guy.

"And you should hear his accent, it's the hottest thing ever!" I smiled.

Natalie piped up: "Speaking about boys, I saw your ex some days ago, what's his name, Christopher… he was flirting with some friend of mine."

"You wished he were flirting with you, huh?" I remarked bitterly.

Kate stopped us before we could jump at each other's throat. If Natalie was right, though, Christopher was spending a lot more time in Princeton than I thought.

--------------------------------------------

"…and then he said he should have known from the start that you were going out with me because you like effeminate men."

"Oh man." I sighed.

I was sitting on Robert's sofa, next to him. I'd been over at his apartment for an hour or so and we'd talked about the events of the past week, especially about the way my uncle was treating him at work since he'd found out we were dating. Uncle Greg hadn't been hard on him, though, so I was feeling relieved. I preferred him getting mad at me than at Robert.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I don't like effeminate guys… well, sometimes I do…"

I probably looked worried. Robert got closer and kissed me. Then he parted, laughing.

"What?" I asked.

"It's not you, I was just thinking… Cameron's got a crush for your uncle, and it's… funny."

"What?" I repeated. "Seriously? But he's too old for her! And from what you've told me about her… she seems like one of the nicest people on earth, how can she get along with uncle Greg?"

"I don't know, ask her. Maybe someday you'll call her 'aunt'." He grinned.

"It's not funny."

"Sorry but… it is."

"Well… did my uncle say anything else? I mean, did he threaten you or something?"

"That's about it, but he said he's going to mutilate me if I do anything wrong. He didn't really specify wrong, so that could mean lots of things."

"Lots of things… like this?" I pushed him down on the sofa and kissed him. "I turned off my phone." I added.

"I hope my pager doesn't go off…" he whispered and kissed me back.

This time, no one interrupted us.

---------------------------------------------------

When I woke up, I was a bit confused at first. Then I remembered where I was.

Robert was still sleeping and I buried my face in his chest. I thought about the previous night.

A while later I felt him stirring and I looked up at him. "Good morning, Dr. Chase." I joked.

He smiled. "Morning to you too. You slept well?"

"Perfect. You?"

"Yes. I didn't know you talked in your sleep."

"I don't talk in my sleep!"

"You do, you said something unintelligible under your breath and then you almost elbowed me in the face."

"This is impossible, I've never talked in my sleep before!"

"Maybe I affect you like that."

"Oh yeah. It could be." I kissed his cheek. "This is the most beautiful September morning so far. Not counting the one when I found a biography of one-thousand pages on John Keats."

Robert propped himself up on his elbows and looked at me: "What? You're comparing me… to a book?"

"It's a very rare book." I stated, then started laughing. The expression on his face was comical. "I was kidding!"

"You better."

I smiled. "You want to know something I've never told anyone?"

He nodded and I went on. "Well, until some time ago, I used to… think about James a lot." He looked confused, so I specified: "Dr. Wilson."

"What? So last night you were making fun of Cameron for liking an old man and you were basically doing the same!"

"No, no way! First, James is younger than my uncle-"

"You're younger than Cameron-"

"-And I've known him since I started high school, I've always liked him a lot. During the first year of college I came to the hospital all the time hoping I'd see him. But then…" Then, Christopher happened.

"Then?"

"Then… things changed. I still ended up with a doctor… I guess it's fate."

"I can't believe you liked Wilson. Thank God you're too young for him."

"Technically, I'm not. But at the time, years ago, I probably was."

"Probably?" he looked at me in disbelief.

"Anyway… I was thinking… I need to find a nickname for you."

"A nickname?"

"Yeah. Not just a shortened version of your name, I want to find something to call you that only I can use. In the meantime I'll just call you Rob."

"Please don't."

"What, you prefer Robbie?"

"No, I like my name as it is."

"Okay then, Robert…" I stressed the last word. "Can I call you Dorian?"

"Why?"

"Cause you remind me of Dorian Gray. Simple."

We started discussing possible nicknames when Robert's phone rang. "Don't answer." I said. "What if it's my uncle trying to control your every movement?"

Robert laughed. "I think you're getting a little paranoid."

"But I don't want you to get up." I tried to prove my point by holding him.

"I don't need to." He stretched a little and reached his cordless phone. "Hello?" He frowned. "House? What's going on?"

I froze and mouthed the words 'I'm not here' hoping Robert would get the hint. He did. "Liv's not here, have you tried calling her? No, I told you… I don't… but…" he sighed and put a hand on the receiver. "He says he'll fire me if I don't let him talk to you."

I resignedly answered the phone: "Uncle Greg?"

"Hi. I just wanted to check on you."

"Why? I'm fine…"

"Yeah, I know now, but you wouldn't answer your phone, I've been calling you for hours."

"I turned it off last night, what's the big deal? You usually don't call me that much."

"So when are you going home?"

I looked at Robert, who was staring at me, puzzled. "I don't know. And right now you sound a lot like an inquisitor. I-"

"I gotta go, later." He hung up and I handed the phone back to Robert. "I honestly have no idea what he wanted."

"Oh well. Let's have breakfast."

"You know I love your accent, right?"

"Thanks. You know I have the day off? We could cuddle."

"I hope you mean what I think."

"I'm sure we're thinking the same thing."

I smiled. "I really love your accent."


	11. I'll never understand him

So I haven't updated in a while… hope you all like this chapter. Review, please?

Disclaimer: I don't own House MD. Wishful thinking.

**11 – I'll never understand him**

"No, uncle, I told you I can't make it. I'm stuck in the Princetonian office and I'm only halfway through what needs to be done, I can't come over for dinner! Not even after that, I'll be kinda dead after I'm finished here. No. No way. Don't you dare call Robert!"

I was arguing with my uncle over the phone. He had called me, after basically ignoring me for a couple of weeks, and wanted me to have dinner with him, but I was too busy. Chaos reigned in the office of the school paper and I was supposed to sort out things. "I-can't-come! Bye, uncle Greg!"

I sighed as I placed my phone on the desk and went back to read an article that had just been submitted.

"You'd think nineteen year olds would know the difference between the word excited and exited…" I muttered under my breath. I was starting to feel drained. I'd been there for two hours, checking articles, helping people who needed help, trying to finish my own editorial. All after a long day of classes.

I wasn't in a great mood, I only wanted to go home and have dinner. So I wasn't being my usual calm, polite self.

After a while Kate entered the room. "Liv, you forgot your keys!"

"Oh, thanks so much. I'm going crazy today, I can't wait to come home!" I sighed. "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, it's six, you know? I want to go have a nice bath and relax. Then I'll probably see Walt, if he cares." She added bitterly.

I smiled sympathetically. Things weren't going well for the two of them.

I said goodbye to her and went back to work, until, much later, a voice shook me out of my thoughts: "So you weren't lying. I thought you'd lied and were somewhere with Chase."

I looked up. "Uncle Greg… why are you here?"

"Just to check on you. I wouldn't want you to lose your mind because of too much work. Oh, wait, you already have, you like the Aussie boy."

I frowned. "Why do you have to be so sarcastic? Just so you know, Robert's a great guy. I really mean it."

"You meant it with Christopher as well but he wasn't that great." He sat on the nearest chair. The few people in the room looked at him curiously.

"Will you stop bringing up Chris? We broke up almost a year ago." I replied as calmly as I could. Which wasn't much.

He picked up a copy of the Princetonian of the previous day and started reading. I stared at him. "What are you gonna do, stay here until I'm done and I leave?"

"That's the plan."

"Fine. Have it your way." I went back to my computer and started typing. Uncle Greg just sat there, receiving a few glances every now and then from the other people in the room.

I didn't want to give in to him. He couldn't always get things his way.

"You're stubborn but I'm more stubborn than you, I'll win and you'll eventually give up." He muttered.

"No way." I replied.

He then faked a cheerful voice: "Why, I didn't know you were a writer."

I looked up. Robert had just entered the room and was looking at my uncle quite awkwardly. "I, hum…"

"Robert, hi!" I got up and went to stand between him and uncle Greg. "How come you're here?"

"I thought I'd surprise you and pick you up…"

"Just ignore me." Uncle remarked.

"Excuse us for a second." I told him and left the room with Robert. "So, I don't know why we're acting like this exactly, but my uncle and I are having a competition about the most stubborn, or something. He wanted to have dinner together, I told him I'm busy, he…" I paused. "I'm just so tired. I wanna go home with you." I hugged him. "Not that we have a home, I meant, I want to leave here and be with you." I corrected myself.

He smiled. "Hey, I want to be with you, too. Liv, you look tired..."

I nodded. "I am."

"I'm leaving." Uncle Greg walked by us. "Don't get too close to my niece while I'm around or I'm gonna throw up. Liver, I'll see you next week for your mom's birthday."

I'd forgotten about that. "But-"

"No buts. Chase, let her sleep, she's worn out. Bye."

I looked at Robert. "I'll never understand him."

---------------------------------------------

"Ow! That hurt…"

"This is the first time you donate blood?"

I nodded. "Yeah." I wasn't looking at the needle in my arm and I was trying to think about something else. But it was difficult.

"You may feel light-headed, it's important that you drink plenty of liquids to replace lost fluids, and avoid strenuous activity for the remainder of the day." The nurse told me. She then handed me some juice after removing the needle.

I glanced at the blood I'd just donated. _I don't think I'll ever get used to this._

Robert had convinced me to donate blood. I had never done it before because needles scared me to death, but he'd made me change my mind. He'd told me he didn't like donating blood when he started, but after a while he'd gotten used to it. I thought he was lying and he really didn't mind the needle because… he was a doctor… and he'd probably just told me that to make me feel better. Anyway, it had worked.

"Was it painful?" Robert was waiting for me outside the room.

"Don't make fun of me!" I replied as I threw away the juice.

"I'm not." He smiled. "Do you feel proud of yourself now?"

"I don't know… I don't really think I did much." I shrugged.

"Every effort counts." He took my hand and squeezed it. "Do you wanna have lunch together?"

"Yes, if you aren't busy." I looked around. It felt weird to be holding his hand in the hospital, where everyone, uncle Greg, James, Dr. Cuddy… could see us. Not that they didn't know already, but still…

"I don't know why, but my uncle seems to be avoiding me lately." I suddenly exclaimed.

Robert frowned: "What do you mean?"

"It's a feeling, but everytime I call him, or I show up to say hello, he seems to be busy or uninterested so I always end up leaving him alone. Maybe it's just me."

"Maybe he still hasn't get used to the idea of us going out together." Robert slowly said, giving voice to my thoughts. "He called me 'dingo' the other day. He said we look alike."

That made me laugh and Robert pretended to feel offended. "Is that funny to you?"

"A lot! And you can't really complain, at least he didn't call you 'frilled necked lizard'." He looked at me confused, so I added: "I saw a documentary on TV one day and they mentioned this animal. It's ugly." We got on the elevator. "Are you going home for the holidays? For Christmas, I mean? I know it's only October, I just wanted to know…"

"I don't think so." He shook his head and pressed a button. "I'm not looking forward to seeing my father and he's about the only relative I have there. Not counting my aunt and uncle, but I've never really got to know them."

I felt bad for him. Not having a family, or having a completely messed up one, wasn't pretty. Besides, if he didn't want to go back, he really had to have a complicated relationship with his father. If it were me, I'd want to go back to the place I'd grown up in, at least for some time.

But I couldn't complain. That meant I'd be spending time with him even during the holidays.

We sat together and started eating, when uncle Greg and James entered the room. James waved at us but my uncle ignored me completely. "Excuse me for a second." I told Robert. I got up and reached my uncle. "I'm pale but I'm not invisible yet." I told him.

"Don't waste your time with me. Robbie's waiting." He replied.

I showed him my arm. "I came to donate blood and Robert asked me to have lunch together because he wasn't busy. I didn't come here just to see him, I would have come by to your office and said hello afterwards." I paused. "I'm not ignoring you. Why are you ignoring me?"

"Because I'm hungry and I want to eat. Move."

I did. James smiled apologetically at me and I went back to Robert. "I'll never understand him."

------------------------------------------------------

"Kate, come on. You can't stay inside all day just because you don't wanna see Walt."

"I can and I will."

Kate and Walt had broken up the previous week. She wasn't as miserable as I thought she'd be, but she absolutely didn't want to see him anymore. Considering the amount of students in Princeton and his major which was different than hers, I'd told her there weren't many chances of seeing him if she avoided the places where they used to go together. She didn't listen though.

"Look, I have to go to dinner with my mom, but you can come too if you want." I said. It was my mother's birthday.

"No, thanks. You go and have fun. And if you see Walt please run him over with your car."

I ignored that comment. "I won't be late. Bye."

I was crossing the road to get to my car, when someone honked at me. "Liv!"

It was Christopher's brother, Joshua. "Hi…" I was a bit surprised to see him because he lived almost an hour away. I got closer to his car to speak to him and noticed Christopher lying in the back seat. "What… is he okay?"

"I'm fine." Christopher muttered, still not moving nor opening his eyes. "Who is this?"

I couldn't believe he hadn't recognized my voice. "It's me… Liv…" I opened the door and examined his face closely. "Josh… what stuff did he do?"

Josh looked embarrassed for a second but immediately replied: "I'm not sure. We came in town yesterday to hang for the weekend with some guys and then about an hour ago he started not feeling well, so I was taking him back to our place now."

I had seen Chris in similar conditions before, but he'd never looked this bad to me. He was sweating a lot despite the chilly weather, his breath was shallow and he was so… still. "Josh, we have to take him to the hospital." I sounded so calm, I had no idea why.

"But Liv, I don't know if-"

"If you won't take him I will." I cut him off. Josh nodded resignedly. I sat in the back and made Christopher's head rest in my lap. "Chris, what drug did you take?" I asked him. "Christopher, it's important!"

"I don't know…" he whispered.

"You're not that dumb, you wouldn't take something randomly… tell me. Please…" I was practically begging him by now.

"I don't… remember…"

I didn't know what to do. I tried to keep him awake till we got to the hospital. Then, once they carried him inside, I went to look for my uncle, even if it was seven and I knew the chances of him being there were slim to none.

But I guess it was my lucky day because I found him in his office. He was speaking with James.

I entered the room and almost started yelling. "I need you to see Christopher and tell me he's going to be alright, because if he isn't, it will be all my fault and I don't know what-"

My uncle interrupted me. "Shut your mouth! You're not gonna help if you lose your mind. What's happened?"

I quickly told him everything and then I followed him and James to wherever they were headed. I wasn't focusing on anything. I was scared. And I wished I could be a little girl again so someone would hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay.

_I wish Robert were here. _I thought, as I bit my lip to not start crying.


	12. All's well that ends well

I'm not so sure about the way this chapter turned out… so if anyone's going to criticize me, please don't be too harsh!

Disclaimer: I don't own House MD… Sad truth.

**12 - All's Well That Ends Well**

"How do you feel?"

I smiled weakly as I accepted the coffee James was offering me. "I don't know. I guess I should feel relieved Christopher's okay, but… I just feel numb." I dully replied.

James looked at me carefully. "Maybe you should go home and rest."

I shook my head. "I couldn't. I keep thinking… if he'd died… it would have been my fault too. If I close my eyes… I see his pale face and feel his shallow breath and…" I shivered.

"Liv." James rested a hand on my shoulder. "Addictions can be deadly, but the person who develops said addiction is responsible. It doesn't matter how much the others try to help, if they don't want to stop, they won't." he assured me. "Believe me."

"You speak from the point of view of a medician or… a regular person?" I asked.

"Both."

We were interrupted by my uncle who entered his office, where I'd been waiting for a couple of hours to know how Chris was doing: "He's fine. For now. He doesn't have a great taste in drugs, those could have killed him."

I bit my lip. "He's practically dead then. Once he gets out of the hospital… he'll keep taking them, he'll never go into rehab. I know him." I slowly said.

Uncle Greg looked at me. "You can convince him. Go talk to him, he asked for you."

"I don't wanna see him." I coldly said.

"Right, whatever. Just let him leave the hospital, take other drugs and kick the bucket." He nonchalantly replied while he reached for his chair.

I glared at him. "It's not my fault that he's addicted! I tried to make him stop when we were together, if I couldn't then, what makes you think I could make it now?"

I didn't feel comfortable speaking about the issue with James beside me, but I was feeling so frustrated and confused that at the moment I didn't care.

"I get it, no need to bite my head off." Uncle Greg sarcastically commented. "Who cares if he dies after all, he's just a junkie."

"Don't say that! He's a good person and he has a good heart, he respects everyone and he's always been so caring… he's just weak!"

"Okay. If he's such a good person why don't you want to see him?" my uncle insisted.

"Fine!" I got up and left the room.

When I entered Christopher's room I thought he was sleeping. His eyes were closed and I suddenly noticed how pale and skinny he was. He had always been thin, but never this much, and his usually tanned complexion was now almost as fair as mine.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to wake him up and I didn't want to see him like that. Before I could leave the room, though, he opened his eyes. "Thanks." He suddenly exclaimed before I could say anything. "I owe you."

I didn't reply, I just stared at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"What kind of question is that? Of course I'm not!" I shouted. "I wish I'd never met you." I tried to sound convincing but I probably wasn't succeeding, because he smiled. "Don't be stupid."

"If it isn't the pot calling the kettle black." I replied. "What did my uncle tell you?"

"To get into rehab soon… if I don't wanna die."

The way he pronounced those words sounded so indifferent, I couldn't believe it. "What's the matter with you? It's like you don't care about living!"

"I used to care. I haven't in a while." He stared at me with that deep gaze I knew so well. "Liv…"

"Yes?" I got closer to the bed.

"I know I've been a jerk. I'm sorry." He took my hand and squeezed it gently.

"Why are you telling me now?"

"You never know, in case I pass away without the chance of apologizing."

"Stop it, that's not funny. And you better eat, you need more meat on your bones. You want me to bring you something?"

"I can't eat now. Maybe tomorrow in the morning. It's late, you should go home."

Suddenly I didn't want to leave. "I can stay if you want me to."

"No."

"You sure?"

He nodded.

"Where's Josh by the way?" I suddenly remembered about his brother.

"I don't know. Since they brought me in this room I haven't seen him."

Just then, Josh showed up. "You're awake… how do you feel?"

"Like I was run over." Chris coughed.

"You scared me to death!" Josh complained. "I went to call Stephanie."

"What?" Christopher groaned. "Why?"

Stephanie was their 21 year old sister, older than Josh but younger than Christopher.

"I didn't tell our parents because I wasn't sure what to tell them exactly… and I didn't want to alarm them… but I thought Steph would want to know." Josh explained. "And she's coming here now, I guess she'll be here in half an hour or so."

I could see where he was coming from. Josh had probably been really frightened and I knew he and Chris were very close to their sister Stephanie. Not as much to the other two sisters they had, because they were still in high school.

"I think I'll leave…" I muttered. "I… I'll come by tomorrow to see you, Chris."

He nodded. "Liv, I will try."

"Try?" I repeated.

"Try to lay off the drugs. I don't wanna be hated by you."

He caught me off guard. I wasn't sure what to say. "I know… you'll make it. Try to rest now." I brushed his hair away from his forehead. "Sleep well."

As I was walking down the corridor, I heard Josh call me. "Liv, I'm sorry… you must be thinking I'm an idiot but I swear I didn't think his conditions were this bad. I promise I'll do my best to help him."

"Yeah, that's what he needs. Look… I'll come by tomorrow, if you need anything you have my number."

He nodded. "Thanks. Goodnight."

I didn't even stop by to tell uncle Greg and James I was leaving. I was tired and I didn't know what to do. I didn't love Christopher anymore, but I cared deeply about him. And I didn't know if he could be trusted with his promise to quit drugs.

----------------------------------------

In the following days, my uncle helped Christopher find a good rehab center that wasn't too expensive. It was five hours away and I somehow felt happy about it, because if it had been closer I would have feel obligated to visit Chris and I didn't want to.

When I spoke to him to say goodbye, it was hard, but he reassured me. "Next time we meet, I'll be clean. Hey, will you smile? You make me feel awful with that serious look on your face. Not to mention, Dr. Chase could murder me if you look this upset."

I frowned. "How do you know-?"

"Your uncle let it slip. I don't know why. Anyway, they were both in my room this morning, they treated me… he seems a good guy."

I brightened immediately. "He is. My uncle makes fun of him all the time… just like he used to do with you. He has it worse though, since they work together."

Christopher smiled at the memory. "I should leave now. Bye, Liv."

I hugged him. "Bye, Chris."

I watched Joshua and Christopher leave and I felt relieved. I turned to go find Robert, but there was no need to. He was waiting for me by the coffee machine.

"Coffee?" he offered.

I nodded. "Thanks." It was weird to have my boyfriend meet my ex that way. "So, I guess you think I don't have great taste in men now."

"Why would I? You're going out with me." He grinned. "And when I spoke to him, he seemed a nice person. Well, he refused the food of the hospital and had his brother go get something for him, but-"

I laughed. "Yeah. He's not stuck up, but the food probably wasn't, hum… appropriate… see, he's a vegan."

Robert's eyes widened: "You mean, just like a vegetarian and he doesn't even eat eggs, milk and that stuff?"

"Yes. He doesn't eat anything that's got animal fat or derivates in it. He's very compassionate, he loves animals… that's one thing we had in common… and so now you know why I stopped eating meat as well."

"Yeah, it's all clear now. Well, props to him."

"My uncle used to tell him he was nuts. Christopher just smiled and replied he didn't understand." I smiled fondly. "It was pretty much impossible to get mad at him."

I drank my coffee while Robert watched me silently. "Sorry… you need to go back to work, I guess." I said.

"No, not really… it's my day off."

"Your day off? But… then why…"

"House called me and told me to come to the hospital immediately if I didn't want to get fired. I guess it was his way to say 'You need to stay with my niece and make sure she feels alright', or something like that. So I came, I helped a little… and now we can spend some time together, if you want."

I was feeling so grateful to both my uncle and Robert, I was at a loss for words. He started speaking again: "If you'd rather be alone, I'll just-"

Maybe it wasn't really a great thing to do in the middle of the hospital, but I interrupted him by kissing him. "Of course I want to be with you."

I was amazed by him. I'd expected him to not be so nice around Christopher, but he was really proving me wrong. He was a continue surprise and I wished uncle Greg would notice what a wonderful person Robert Chase was.

---------------------------------------------

Some days went by and then, one Friday morning, two horrible things happened. Kate announced she was going out with Kevin Gordon that night (one guy that shared some classes with me that I despised) and I got a D in History.

So naturally I vented with Robert when, later that day, we were having dinner together. "…And I told Kate she can't seriously go out with that punk but she says it's nothing serious and she just wants to have fun with someone who's laid back and not too much of a goodie two shoes for once. She doesn't know that guy, he's an idiot and… I don't trust him, and… I can't afford to get a D, I have to keep up my grades for my scholarship!" I complained. "Fees are high enough as it is, if I lose my scholarship… my mom… I feel like such a wreck."

"I think you should try to relax a little. A D is not the end of the world and-"

"It's easy for you to say, you have actually graduated with, I'm sure, perfect grades and you have a nice job, or it would be nice if you didn't have to put up with my uncle, but… why are you laughing?"

"Sorry, it's just… I rarely see you angry... not this much."

I sighed. "You think I'm overreacting?"

"Well…" He didn't reply but it was obvious that he thought so.

"Okay, I'll try not to think about it. Even if right now Kate might be in the suburbs with Gordon and… okay. I'll stop. So, tell me about your newest case, at least I'll learn some medical stuff and I'll feel more intelligent."

"Nothing particularly exciting lately. Last patient we had… his girlfriend rode him to death."

I looked up. "What? I thought I heard you say…"

"Yeah, you heard well. Boyfriend and girlfriend were having sex when he suddenly passed out."

"Wow. They must like it rough…"

Robert then proceeded to explain the cause of the boy's sickness and I listened intently. "Go figure. I didn't understand everything you said… but it sounded very complicated."

He laughed. "Yeah, it was. Cameron then went off at me with a speech about sex and the difference between men and women and-"

"Cameron did what?" I stared at him sort of accusingly.

"I knew I shouldn't have said that… she was just a little weird today, I don't know why she talked the way she did."

"I thought she liked my uncle." I protested.

"She does." He agreed.

"Okay. I guess I'll ignore what you said then. But I feel a little jealous." I thought about it for a second. "Very jealous."

"I don't care about Cameron." He replied, as I got up and put my dish in the sink, since I'd finished eating. "Liv?"

"Yeah?"

He reached me and put his hands on my shoulders. "Wanna stay here tonight?"

He had such a piercing gaze. I loved his eyes. "You know you don't even need to ask me." We kissed.


	13. The Nutcracker

I'm finally updating after a long time… I feel bad for not doing it before, I hope someone is still reading this story! I've already got next chapter all planned out in my mind, so I'll probably post it by the end of this week.

Disclaimer: I don't own House, MD. If I did, I'd be the happiest person in the whole wide world.

**13 – The Nutcracker**

"Liv! Where are you going? Jill and Michelle were coming over tonight to hang out with us!"

"Oh, man, I forgot! Sorry, Kate… apologize to them for me." I replied as I put on my shoes and looked for my car keys. "Where are my keys?"

"You could just as well move into Robert's flat, you're always there!" she exclaimed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I'm not always there. I just spend the night every now and then." I corrected her.

Kate raised her eyebrows. "Last week, I barely saw you at all and you only stayed here one night."

"What are you, my mom?" I asked. I was getting annoyed because I couldn't find my keys.

She sighed and handed them to me. "Here, you left them next to the fridge."

"You're awesome! What would I do without you?" Since she was still staring at me reproachfully, I added: "I promise we'll hang out together tomorrow or the day after that, okay? You're my best friend and I'm not ignoring you, it's just…"

"Yeah, I get it. I know what it's like to be all caught up in a relationship. By the way, you know that Sam Anderson?"

"The tall guy who wrote some brilliant articles for the Princetonian, you mean?"

She nodded. "He kind of asked me out."

"What? He's two years younger than us!"

Kate got all defensive. "So what?"

"Nothing…" I didn't want to make her angry. "I'll come back late." I paused. "Actually, maybe-"

"Yeah, I know, maybe you won't come back at all." she interrupted me. "Have fun."

"Thanks, you too. Tell the girls I'll be there next time."

I hurriedly left and reached Robert's apartment. Kate was right, lately I'd been spending a lot of time with him and I'd neglected my friends, but I couldn't help it: when I wasn't with him, I was studying or working for the school paper, therefore I didn't have any free time.

"Hi, come in!" Robert opened the door for me. I entered, appreciating the warmth (it was freezing outside) and after taking off my coat I kissed him. "Hey, I missed you."

"You last saw me 24 hours ago…" He pointed out.

"I know, but… it's impossible not to miss you." I grinned.

"Thanks. I did miss you too, you know. I was thinking that maybe we could… next week, we could go to New York and see _The Nutcracker_." He smiled and showed me two tickets he'd taken from his pocket.

My eyes widened. "_The Nutcracker?_ How did you get those? How much did you spend? They must cost a fortune, you shouldn't have-"

"Don't you worry about that. And since it is on Saturday, we could spend the night in the city. There's this nice hotel where I've been before, near Central Park…" he hinted.

I was still staring incredulously at him. I loved Tchaikovsky's _Nutcracker_ but I'd never actually seen a representation of it, I just enjoyed the music very much. I couldn't believe how happy I felt. "I can't believe how great you are, I… I love you!" The moment I said that, I realized how powerful those words sounded. All the more so because I truly meant them and I'd never told Robert before.

He looked surprised. "I… hum…"

"You don't have to say it back..." I reassured him. "What's wrong? You look like you've never heard those words before." I said.

"Not in a long time." He admitted, and he suddenly looked like a little kid, lonely and miserable. His long blond hair fell in the way of his eyes and I brushed it away. I caressed his cheek with my right hand and smiled: "I mean it. I do love you. And not because you got tickets for the musical or because you have the most wonderful eyes I've ever seen or because you always listen patiently to me when I complain about the way animals rights are ignored… I do because… of all these things and much more. I feel happy when I'm with you, I feel like I'm a better person. I feel alive."

"Wow." He looked stunned. "That's what they call a speech… Liv?"

"Yes?"

"I was thinking of going out to see some film, but I think I'd rather stay in." He kissed me and rested his hand on my lower back. "What do you think?"

"Good idea." I kissed him back and pulled at his sweater. I was sure what I felt for him was love. It was too overwhelming not to be.

----------------------------------------------

I'd completely forgotten that the following weekend I was supposed to go home in Lakewood. When my mom called, on Friday, I told her I was going to New York, and she was a bit upset that I wasn't going to see her, but eventually she changed attitude, she started telling me to have fun and be safe in the City. She had only met Robert once, but she liked him and she seemed impressed that he was so young and a doctor already. Of course, she made fun of me whenever she could for dating one of uncle Greg's ducklings.

"Kate, I'm going out!"

"Where?" Kate's voice came from the living room. I got up from my bed and reached her: she had three books open in front of her, including a huge encyclopedia, and she looked worn out. "Don't you think maybe you should have a break?" I suggested.

"No, I have to go out with Sam later tonight, I can't really waste any time."

"Okay…" She had been going out with Sam Anderson for almost two months and apparently they really got along well.

"Why were you yelling on the phone?"

"I wasn't yelling. My mom… nevermind." I suddenly decided I'd go and say hello to uncle Greg since I hadn't seen him for almost a month. "I'm going to see my uncle…"

"Yeah, sure. You really want to see Robert." She sarcastically said. Later she'd been joking a lot about Robert and me.

"No. I'm spending tomorrow and Sunday with him anyway, don't you remember?" I put on my shoes and coat and grabbed my car keys. "Later."

"Later" she muttered under her breath as she went back to studying. I felt a bit guilty and decided I'd get her something fabulous while I was in New York.

"Hi! Look what I got for you!" I entered my uncle's office carrying two cappuccinos from the nearest Starbucks.

He was playing with his Game Boy and didn't look up at once. "Your prince charming has clinic duty now, the other two I'm not so sure. I think Cameron is trying to figure out a way to make me fall in love with her, but-"

I interrupted him. "I don't care where Robert is, I wanted to see you. I haven't seen you since New Years when we went out for lunch and it's 23rd today. Here." I handed him his cup.

"So what are you doing for the weekend?" he asked, finally putting down his Game Boy and accepting the coffee.

I wasn't sure if I should tell him. "I'm going to New York. To see _The Nutcracker_, isn't it amazing-"

"Chase is taking you to see that?" he asked disbelievingly. "He actually knows who Chopin is?"

"Tchaikovsky." I corrected him.

"I know that. I wanted to see if you remembered."

"Okay. What are _you_ doing in the weekend?"

"Probably watching reruns of _Beverly Hills 90210._ I still haven't decided which one is the worst actor."

"Don't diss on _Beverly Hills_, I loved that show. Dylan was my first crush."

"Sadly, I remember that." He scoffed.

"Why do you always have to be so sarcastic? I'm your favorite niece, after all."

"My only niece."

"Exactly. By the way… I sent the New York Times a letter to apply for a summer job, you know, they always hire someone in the summer... They probably won't answer for another couple of weeks but I'm so nervous, I check my mail everyday." I bit my lip. "I don't think I'm good enough to be chosen, but hope dies last."

"Well, you have a pretty good chance to be chosen. If you do, please, don't write about global warming."

I shot him a dirty look. "I'll never get chosen anyway."

"Don't play victim."

"I don't want to believe I will and then get disappointed. Better not to get my hopes up. Look, don't I sound mature?"

"You sound quite desperate, actually."

"That's not true! Since you only want to argue, I'll leave."

"I don't want to argue, you're so touchy."

"And you have no manners."

We teased each other for a while till I left. He was feeling good, I could tell. I'd seen Stacy on the way to the hospital, his ex girlfriend, and I was afraid maybe she'd gone and visited him, but luckily that wasn't the case. I thought at the time, when he was living with her, maybe he'd finally settled down, but then she messed up everything when she interfered in his life, deciding what to do with his leg in his place, and he'd never really forgiven her. It was awful, because Stacy was a nice woman, I liked her. Although, Dr. Cuddy was my favorite, and I was convinced she and uncle Greg had had a relationship in the past, but he'd never tell me the truth. He was so complicated.

I really wished he'd find someone who loved him for who he was, because he deserved to be happy more than anyone else I knew.


	14. Trouble

I haven't given up on this story! Just lacked inspiration and time for a while… hope this chapter's good enough!

Disclaimer: I don't own House, MD.

**14 – Trouble**

"Kate! Kate, are you home?"

I entered the apartment loudly and slammed the door behind me. I couldn't help it, I was so excited. "Kate!" No reply. I checked, and sure enough, she wasn't home. "Damn it!" I cursed.

I'd received a letter from the _New York Times _concerning my application for a summer job there. I didn't want to read the response all alone though, so I was hoping Kate would be there, but she probably still had lessons for that day.

I tried to call Robert. His phone was turned off so I guessed he was still at the hospital. I could have called my mom, but I needed to either rejoice or be depressed with someone who was closer, and I wouldn't see her before the weekend.So I decided to wait until Kate would come home or Robert would call me back.

But time went by so slowly. Half an hour later, I was going crazy. I took the envelope, my car keys and drove to the hospital.

Uncle Greg's office was empty… almost. "Dr. Cameron, hello…" I greeted her. It looked like she was doing paperwork.

"Hello, Liv! How are you?"

"Fine, thank you… do you know where I can find my uncle?" She really was pretty. Once again, I thought about her and Robert working together every day and I felt jealous.

"I don't know, sorry. I don't think he has clinic duty, you could wait if you want…"

"Well… hum… thank you." I smiled and sat beside my uncle's desk. I saw his Game Boy in a corner and started playing with it.

I'd just lost for the fifth time when Robert and Dr. Foreman entered the office. I didn't notice them at first. I was too busy trying to advance to the next level.

"Liv?" Robert's deep voice shook me out of my thoughts. I looked up and smiled when I saw him. "Hi, Robert… Dr. Foreman." I nodded.

"Let's go get coffee." Robert suggested. I said goodbye to his colleagues and followed him. "So…" he started, but I interrupted him: "I got a reply from the _New York Times._"

"That's great! What did they say?" he asked and stopped walking.

"I don't know… haven't opened it yet… I'm kind of scared." I admitted.

"Want to open it… together?"

"Yes. I'd like to. Even better, you open it for me." I blushed. I was feeling like a little girl, but I couldn't help it. I was too nervous.

"Okay." He glanced at the clock on the wall nearby. "I'm off in less than half an hour, can you wait?"

"Sure. I'll just go get some coffee outside…" I told him where I'd parked and left, feeling a little calmer.

When Robert reached me, I handed him the letter: "I'm dying to know!"

He laughed and proceeded to open it. "Ready?"

I nodded. He started reading in that lovely accent of his: "Dear Ms. House, we are glad to inform you that you have been accepted for our summer internship program-"

I almost freaked out: "Are you sure? Oh, let me see!" I checked. That's when it sank in fully. I would be working for one of the best newspapers of the United States for the whole summer! "I can't believe it!"

"Congratulations." Robert smiled and kissed me. "I know you really wanted this and worked hard to get it."

"Thanks…" Now I had to tell my mom, my uncle, Kate, and lots of other people. I called everyone once Robert and I had had dinner and were relaxing in his apartment. Uncle Greg, of course, wouldn't answer the phone, so I just left him a message. "Done. Rob? Are you okay?" Robert was lying on his bed and he looked exhausted.

"Yeah, just tired." He rubbed his eyes.

"I'll go home then." I got up but Robert grabbed my hand: "No, why don't you sleep here? I have to leave early tomorrow but you can leave whenever you want."

"You sure?"

He nodded and closed his eyes. He had to be _really_ tired and he fell asleep at once. I stayed awake for a while, staring at him: he looked so perfect, like a Greek god. And I wondered if I deserved him.

-----------------------------------------------

"Jimmy's late."

"Calm down, he's probably stuck in traffic or something."

Uncle Greg scoffed: "What, in Princeton?"

"It happens sometimes!" I insisted. "Why don't you just let me walk down the block and go get dinner at the Indian restaurant?"

"No. We're celebrating you today, and your future internship at the_ New York Times_, aren't we? So we're gonna wait and Jimmy's gonna bring dinner."

I sighed. I didn't know how James could cope with my uncle sometimes. "Alright. So do you have any new cases? I didn't hear from Robert all day, he left really early in the morning and then-"

"You have his house keys now?"

"No I don't. And I hope you didn't boss him around, he was really worn out yesterday."

"I could make so many sarcastic comments after your words, but I'm restraining myself and I will shut up today."

He'd never grow up. "Once again, I'll ask… got any new cases at work?"

"Yeah. A boy who thinks he's cursed and he's gonna die soon. George or something like that. Pretty funny, actually." He sat on the sofa and turned on the TV.

"How can you think it's funny? Poor kid, he must be really scared!"

"He dabbles in spiritic seances, I have no mercy."

I was going to reply to that but James finally arrived. He'd brought pizza and as we ate, he asked me questions about college and life in general. He acted different than usual, and he exchanged glances with my uncle every now and then, so I started wondering what was going on. "Excuse me just a minute, I have a call to make…" I went outside and dialed Robert's number. When he answered, he sounded nervous. "Hey, it's Liv… are you okay?"

"Yes. What's going on?"

"Nothing, I… well, I've just had dinner at my uncle's and I wanted to know if you're alright… if everything's alright. My uncle and James are acting strange, so maybe something's happened at work today…" I hesitated.

"Everything's great. Look, I… I don't know if I can see you tomorrow… I'll let you know."

"Okay, don't worry… if you need anything, just call." I hung up shortly after that and went back inside. I was more convinced than before that something was wrong, but if Robert didn't want to talk, I wouldn't force him.

James was asking uncle Greg about his newest case and he was very reluctant to talk about it. "Why don't you two play chess or something?" he suggested.

"Actually, I should go. I have lessons all day long tomorrow… I need to finish reading Pushkin's poetry as well." I explained as I put on my coat.

"Drop those Russians and read more Faulkner." My uncle yelled as I opened the door to leave after saying goodbye to James.

-------------------------------

"Robert's avoiding me."

Kate looked up from the soup she was cooking for dinner. "Why do you think that?"

"I don't just _think _that, I'm sure. Three days ago, he was already acting funny, and I haven't heard from him since. I left him messages and everything when I called, but he hasn't called back. I'm worried." I bit my lip. What really made me feel nervous was thinking maybe he wanted to break up with me. But I couldn't see it coming. I was in love with him and he… well, he'd never told me he loved me, but he was always so caring, so sweet, so…

"What if he's just really busy at the hospital? It wouldn't be the first time." Kate suggested.

"I hope so."

"Come on, let's eat dinner! I've never cooked this soup before, you tell me what it's like!" she excitedly said as she set the table and we started eating.

"It's good." I absent-mindedly commented a minute later. I was staring down and thinking about Robert.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Liv, don't lie to me! You're not even paying attention!"

"Yes I am." I quickly finished my soup as Kate stared at me. "Look… I'm going to talk to Rob. I'll be back soon… or not… anyway, sorry for ruining the night."

"Don't be ridiculous! Let me know how it goes, okay?" she hugged me briefly. "See you later."

I felt a little better after her encouragement and ten minutes later I was ringing Robert's doorbell. He let me in, and it was obvious something was very wrong. He was pale and his hair was all messy and he looked like he was lost in another world. "What happened?" I asked anxiously as I sat beside him.

"My father's come to town."

I looked into his eyes: they were sad… and hurt. "He's here… to spend some time with you?"

"I don't know what he wants. I don't really care." Robert got up and started pacing around the room. "Why should I care? He kept disappointing me all my life, never showing up for my birthdays, never sending a word of congratulation, not even when I graduated from college earlier…" He started sounding angry. Frustrated. "He's left me alone with my mom, I didn't even know how I was supposed to take care of her, she had issues, she needed help, I was just a kid! I tried to help, but I had no clue how I could make her stop drinking!"

I got up as well and tried to reach him, but he wouldn't stop moving. "I don't know what he wants." He repeated. "I wish he'd never showed up."

"You can't really wish that, he's your father, maybe he wants you to forgive him… he wants to get close to you again…" The minute I said those words, I knew I shouldn't have. Robert became furious. "He has no right! You, of all people, should understand what it's like to have a father abandon you and not give a damn!"

For some reason hearing him say that hurt me. "I understand… but… my father never wanted to know me. He never cared… your father may have made mistakes, but what if he's really trying here? Maybe he just wants a chance!"

Robert shook his head. "You don't know him. He's not like that. If you think I should give him a chance, why don't you go and speak to _your_ father? Give him a chance as well. If you think it's so easy, go and make friends with your own father!"

That was it, I couldn't take it. "I'm sorry." I got up and quickly left. Robert had never treated me like that before.


	15. Fathers

Not too sure about the way this chapter turned out, it's kind of angsty…

Disclaimer: House MD isn't mine. Yeah, real tragedy, isn't it?

**15 - Fathers**

"_Liv, I need to tell you something."_

"_What is it, mom?"_

_My mother poured some hot chocolate in the cup in front of me. "You know I've always told you… your father's not with us because he's working abroad?"_

"_Yes." I nodded. I wished she'd speak and hurry, because I wanted to watch cartoons on TV. _

"_I didn't tell you the truth. Your father… he doesn't live far from here. But… he's with another woman, and he has another child, older than you. I'm trying to convince him to visit us. I've been trying for years."_

_I couldn't believe it. My mom had never lied to me before. She wasn't like the other kids' moms, the ones that told them lies to make them shut up or be quiet. My mom was honest with me, even if I was only seven years old. "He doesn't want to see me?" I asked, and I could feel tears forming. _

_My mom hugged me and caressed my hair. "It's not your fault, it's mine. I love you, baby."_

I snapped out of my reverie when I heard my phone ringing. I'd been thinking about the day when I first knew the truth, that my father had another family and he didn't care about my mother and me.

I looked at the phone screen. It was my friend Elizabeth. I didn't feel like talking with her. I didn't answer.

"Liv, you're gonna be late if you don't get up."

"I'm not going to school today, Kate. I only have lessons in the morning anyway. I can skip for once. Besides, I feel like hell, I've barely slept." I told her, not bothering to move from my bed.

Kate didn't insist. She knew I had had a fight with Robert but she didn't know the details. "I'll be back for lunch."

"Okay. Bye."

I heard her leave and lock the door and I just rolled over. I didn't want to get up. I was feeling drained after the previous night… hurt, and drained.

I did nothing all day. I fell asleep in the afternoon, and when I woke up it was seven. Kate offered to talk, but I didn't feel like venting. I just wanted some fresh air. I put on my coat, scarf and hat and went outside.

It was really cold, but maybe the climate didn't have anything to do with the way I felt. I walked for half an hour, I crossed Nassau Street and stopped to stare at the window of my favorite bookshop, but I wasn't really seeing the books in front of me. Usually whenever I was feeling blue going there and buying a novel would help, but that day I knew it wouldn't work.

I decided I'd go back home and take a long bath. What I really wanted was forget about the previous night, see Robert and have him tell me he was sorry.

-------------------------------------------

Another day went by and I didn't hear from Robert. I didn't want to call him because he was the one who had pushed me away in the first place. But I missed him.

Uncle Greg called in the afternoon and I answered whispering, because I'd just entered the college library. "Yes?"

"Hey, Liver. Where are you?"

"I hate that damn nickname and I'm in the school library."

"Good, you're nearby then. Come on over at the hospital."

"Why?" I was getting worried he knew somehow I had had a fight with Robert.

"Because. No real reason. I'm bored, I just solved the case of the cursed kid. Besides, I have your mother's medical papers that she needs to sign and you can give them to her."

"Well… I'll come over at your home later."

"Come now, what's so important in the stupid library?"

"Don't call the Princeton library stupid!" I didn't want to go to the hospital, even if it was a ten minute walk, because I probably would see Robert. Then again, I wanted to see him. And I had a valid excuse, my mother's papers. "Okay, I'm coming. But if I fail my philosophy exam it's all your fault!"

It took me half an hour to actually get inside the hospital because I kept changing my mind and thinking it was best if I ignored my uncle and went back, but I eventually got on the elevator with James and another man, probably a patient of his. I chatted with James until we all got off on uncle Greg's floor and I said goodbye.

I relaxed when I saw my uncle was alone in his office, looking down, deep in thought. "Hi."

"Took you long enough!"

"So what was wrong with the kid?" I changed topic of conversation.

"He got worse again. Case not solved yet, but I've sent off the ducklings to treat him and I'm confident I'm right this time." He got up and handed me some papers and told me where mom needed to sign. Then he sat again.

"Thanks, so, I'll just go now…" I said. I was nervously looking around.

"Don't you want to stay and see Prince Charming? He should be back anytime now."

"I don't think so, I mean, he's working, I shouldn't bother him." I was flushed and my uncle clearly realized I was nervous. "What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Did you fight with the Englishman?"

"He's Australian." I could feel my cheeks burning. "I really gotta go. Bye."

I didn't use the elevator this time and when I arrived on the first floor, I saw Robert, walking down the corridor with Dr. Cameron. _Why does he have such a pretty coworker? Bet she's smart, too, way smarter than me. _I thought, feeling once again a pang of jealousy and hurrying outside. I was practically jogging by now and I hoped Robert hadn't seen me.

------------------------------------------------------

The weekend was awful. I went back home, to Lakewood, and I was so gloomy that my mom kept questioning me to find out what was going on, but I didn't feel like telling her and I ended up reading one book I had to finish for school and watching the reruns of some old TV series that I liked when I was a kid. I was almost sure my mother was relieved when I left on Sunday to get back to Princeton, because I was driving her crazy with my bad mood.

It was past dinner time when I entered Kate and I's apartment and found a note of hers saying she was out with Sam. I tidied my room a little and just when I was going to heat something in the microwave because I was hungry, the doorbell rang. _Maybe Kate forgot her keys… _I thought as I went to open the door without checking who it was first, I didn't really give a damn about anything at the moment.

"Hi." It was Robert. "Can I come in?"

I didn't say anything and let him enter. I went to sit on the sofa and he followed me.

"I'm sorry. I've been a jerk to you, you didn't deserve it." He sighed. "About an hour ago… well, my father left, I went to say goodbye to him. I've made an effort, after trying to avoid him for the last few days." He shifted awkwardly. "I avoided you too. It's my fault, I didn't feel like being around anybody."

"Yeah, I've noticed."

"I don't know why, but whenever my father's around I always feel so messed up and-"

I interrupted him. "I know how it feels… even if I've not been around mine for years."

"I'm sorry about the things I said about you and your father. I didn't mean them."

I looked at him sceptically. "I think you did."

"No I didn't, and I'm sorry I hurt you, because that was the last thing I wanted. I was so mad and there you were and I just…"

"Doesn't matter, you were right. I shouldn't preach when my relationship with my own father is non-existent."

He lowered his voice. "I hurt you, didn't I?"

"Yes… you did." I admitted, biting my lip like I always did when I was close to tears.

"Then tell me I'm an idiot or something, you're supposed to be angry!"

"What do you want me to say? I wish we didn't fight cause these past days have been hell! I wish… do you think I wouldn't have wanted to grow up with a dad like all my friends? Do you think it was easy for me to come to terms with the fact that my own father doesn't care? It wasn't and it still isn't! No one has the perfect family and I know it, but I'm sick and tired of pretending I'm okay with him not caring! It's been hurting me all my life and no one seems to have a clue because I tell my mom I'm fine, and I tell my uncle I'm fine, and… and I've never told anyone these things… not even Christopher and… I don't know why I'm telling you now." I was almost crying and I was feeling ridiculous.

"Maybe because you really needed to vent." He said and put his arms around me. "Are you still mad at me?"

"No." I hugged him. "Are _you_ mad at me?"

"No." he smiled and kissed the top of my head.

"Do you want to tell me what happened… between you and your dad?"

He shook his head. "It's been a long week… I don't want to be on my own. Will you come over and spend the night?"

I nodded. "I don't want to be alone either."

I wished he'd told me more, but I didn't want to force him. We went to his apartment and I did most of the talking, telling him about my own messed up family, giving vent to my feelings like I never had before. He listened and comforted me and I hoped soon, when he would be ready to speak about his father, I could help him and support him like he'd done with me.


End file.
